Homelessness: Calling out for help

This is a story that really needs to be told. Shelters are full and often over capacity which they can be shut down for doing. Food banks, church food banks and shelters are empty due to lack of donations, which have dropped in this economy. And I agree with the writer, that people think it's easy to just go get into one. Many take in the mentally ill, and if you are recently homeless with children they are not safe. Many open at night and can only take a certain number and then you must leave by 7 or 8 AM and go back to the streets.

Last winter, our state couldn't keep up with the homelessness crisis. They opened several temporary shelters that weren't up to the fire codes and hadn't been inspected by building officials yet. There was no other choice. We had a harsh winter and record amounts of snow. What choices did the homeless have? Take a chance sleeping in a warm bed in a shelter still under construction or sleep in the sub-freezing temps in a raging blizzard? Some libraries that were set up as temporary shelters are now closed due to lack of funding.

All this going on and I see the apartment rental ads and the rents are ridiculously high because landlords are taking advantage of the foreclosure crisis. What chance does a family have? This county is in a very sad state right now and it is only going to get worse within the next couple of months.

That's the whole problem, which is why they need to really do a story on this. Codes and regulations and sadly, nasty people who don't want shelters in their neighborhoods. That being said, shelters depend on some funding and lots of donations which have been cut and are slowing down due to the economy, then throw in code violations and they shut them down. Our church was forced to stop because they are not licensed to have people sleeping and living in the hall or in the chapel. They fought it at the churchs' expense and lost, fire code violations, health law violations, zoning law violations, which is code in itself for people not wanting the homeless in their neighborhoods and churches. That's why you always see homeless aid workers being arrested for handing out food in front of train stations in Phila., NY, DC, who's kidding who, it's not out of concern for violations of health laws, they don't want the homeless people where they can be seen by tv news cameras in "well to do areas or metropolitan areas" which is why they sleep on grates in the winter and park benches in the summer. The news stations won't cover one man or woman, but a group, that they will cover.

The whole landlord, bank foreclosure mess is a topic for another thread but I am sadly afraid I would have to give myself three strikes, moderate all my own posts and ban myself. My irish is up today with the comments and the lack of humanity the people in this country have for one another and I am not just talking about the government, I am talking about people who constantly comment on situations they have no knowledge of because they are too busy watching the Real Houswives of somewhere and haven't a clue as to the situations hitting some of their neighbors so hard and they won't reach out or even talk to them. I am sick when I hear homeless stories and would reach out to all if I had the money to help them, shelter I can provide but that's only part of what they would need. God forbid it should ever happen to any of these people, they wouldn't last a day as a 99er much less a homeless one.

We can help other nations that hate us, but our country ignores its own poor and homeless. Imagine how they feel. The unemployed are treated like were invisible. It would be extremely hard to deal with this homeless situation, no matter how old you are.