Posted on September 11, 2015 by Letters to the Editor in The New York Times The New York Times, By Letters to the Editor Let’s not talk about the “homeless problem.” The homeless are the young man who did his college homework while living in a shelter after his family hit a rough patch. The homeless are the man at the coat drive looking for a warm winter coat that could fit into the backpack containing all his possessions that he took to work each day. And, yes, the homeless are the man “bedding down” in the doorway, living on the streets for years, mentally ill and too impaired to look after his own essential needs. All of these people have a “homelessness problem.” We have to find solutions for all of them. We already have one for the chronically homeless man: supportive housing of the type that organizations like mine provide. We have a solution. Now we need the city and state to work together to fund it.
