Bravo, Herald, for your editorial about homelessness, “
“‘Homelessness’ may be worsening because we think it’s all about homes,” it says. It’s true that we can’t always solve problems by throwing money at them and cities with homeless problems, sadly, don’t seem to be making a lot of progress on this complex issue, money or no money.
One thing I’ve noticed working with at-risk kids and their families, however, is that people don’t seem to value things if they don’t earn them and, if this is the case, what makes us think that spending money on housing for the homeless, though laudable on the one hand, makes better sense than using scarce resources to provide needed mental health and substance abuse support instead?
Perhaps another thing to be noticed about the places having homelessness issues is that they all seem to be located in states where pot is legal. I don’t see pot as a gateway drug as many do, but wonder if drug dealers feel safer somehow dealing more harmful, addictive drugs in areas where pot is legal?
Finally, should we be asking a larger question, like what has changed in our society over the last 30 years that has made us, especially young people, more vulnerable to drug addiction and homelessness?
Brooke O’Malley
Durango
