Comments on: Homeless Housing is a County Problem

By: Johnny Q. Public

Johnny Q. Public — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:47:50 +0000

Let the NIMBYism begin! Nobody seems to want to deal with homeless individuals with disabilities. They want somebody else to handle it, and they don’t want it anywhere near their little slice of paradise. If you notice and read up a bit, the “homeless lifestyle,” like the “gay lifestyle,” is generally not a “choice.” Most of these folks have serious combinations of health issues that living outdoors exacerbates. If you want to look at it strictly in dollars and cents, studies show that taxpayers pay more overall for cumulative public services for unmet homeless housing – ER visits, police and fire calls, jail, court time – than we would if we just got people indoors and helped them manage their specific conditions. Makes for a healthier person overall who is no longer homeless, not to mention it is the right thing to do for people who can’t deal.

By: Mary Dolphin

Mary Dolphin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:24:46 +0000

To J T Price
Whenever someone says ” I’m sympathetic….. but…”
chances are they mean “I feel sorry but not enough to look for a solution that might inconvenience me in any way.”
The shelter has been in operation for over 2 years and there are no statistics to support the magnet theory.
Furthermore, the individuals in question are peoPle who have called this community home for many many years.
They have a right to be here and we have an obligation, by virtue of being human, to help make that happen. We do not
bus our most challenged members out of town to a central camp for the injured and disabled. They are not lepers though clearly there are people who would like to see them treated as such.
Mary

By: M.D. Moore

M.D. Moore — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:59:30 +0000

I agree with J. T. Price. While I have empathy for those truly in transitional need, it is clear to the most casual observer that most of these people have made a choice to live the homeless lifestyle. We see the same faces year after year. I still have sympathy for them, but they are not trying to improve their situation, this is, in most cases, a conscious choice. If we, as a society, promote it, are we helping or enabling?

M.D. Moore