With the year 2000 approaching you would think there would
be more bold and FRESH thinking about old social problems.
As Patrick Kennedy points out in his column this morning ( " In
defense of America's homeless ", Providence Journal, Feb. 3 ) government
programs -conceived by liberals but crushed by callous conservatives-
might have helped a lot. It seems to me that HOMELESS PEOPLE began to
spring up like mushrooms - everywhere - in the Reagan era .
Homeless shelters do little to take the stress out of homelessness.
If the homeless person is not mentally ill at the very beginning of
his or her ordeal, that person soon will be. We cannot expect the
average homeless victim to be viewed positively in a job interview. His
stressed situation - suggesting lack of stability - is all too obvious.
Every person needs privacy in order to sleep well. And he needs
to have access to a hot bath and shower facility - and also a convenient
laundry service. A phone too is hardly a luxury for a working person .
A tired, stinking, ragged person is not prepared to enter any
workplace !
In 1970 in the Providence area it was possible for a single
male or female to find a perfectly decent room -complete with cooking
facilities - for as little as $13.00 per week . And I believe welfare
checks for single people were about $ 40.00 weekly. Today this almost
sounds like the good life !
Where are all those single rooms for rent today ? And what do
they cost now relative to a weekly welfare check - supposedly the minimum
which a human being can actually live on in a city like Providence ?
Would not a draconian rent control program get a lot of homeless
people off the street ?
I also think a 21st century revolution in architecture might
finally solve the homeless problem for good.
Why can't we try to find cheap new ways to shelter everybody
and provide the amenities of civilization ? I once heard a married man
say : " If it weren't for the wife and kids, I could live in a cave ".
Cave ? A modern cave ? Now there's an idea !
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Ron