Unhelping the homeless

Startle Grams | Paul Bourgeois:

“By supporting homeless shelters, are we sending a mixed message? Are we in any way enabling more homelessness in our area? Are we really helping these people?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Yes, yes and yes.

Without shelters, a few homeless people would be motivated to get jobs and move into homes of their own. Not many, but a few. Others would die, from exposure or malnutrition or disease. Still others would move to more hospitable cities.

Shelters enable all of them, the lazy, the mentally ill, the poorest of the poor, to be homeless and yet survive. Providing shelters may not really help the lazy, but it really helps the mentally ill and the poorest of the poor.

The best approach is multi-faceted. Besides food kitches and shelters, offer counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, preventive medical care, job training and job opportunities. The best way to get the homeless off the streets is not to let them end up there in the first place.