Wednesday, September 23, 2015

SLO: Begging Local Politicians to "Do Something" About Homelessness (or Let Us Do Something)

9/25/2015 Update: The only response received by my email from the SLO City Council and the County Board of Supervisors was from Adam Hill. Mr. Hill acknowledged that we are failing in our efforts to help the homeless, due to turf wars and bureaucratic inefficiency. Well, he sure got that right. 

9/25/2015 The Pope Speaks for the Homeless and Impoverished: The Tribune newspaper ran a nice front page article "A Powerful Message for the Powerless" that encouraged those with more to help those with less, including the homeless. A few highlights from the article:
• I want to be clear: We can find no social or moral justification whatsoever for lack of housing.
• The son of G*d came into this world as a homeless person. The son of G*d knew what it was to start life without a roof over his head.
• The Pope addressed both houses of Congress before meeting with the city's homeless.
• Included in the core of the Pope's message was that we must grapple with the difficult challenges of poverty.
• All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person.
Above: The city of SLO still claims that it has not "outlawed homelessness". Yet these signs still remain up. There are at least 1,500 homeless in our county, and all our homeless shelters combined only house a small fraction of that number. That leaves the vast majority of our homeless with their only option: sleep under the overpasses or in the creek beds.