Welfare Offices’ Errors, Burdens

It appears that, ironically, the plight of the homeless has been further exacerbated by the very institutions that have been created to help alleviate it. Now we not only have people with no place to sleep at night, but no place to go when they seek help, unless they don’t mind standing outside six hours or more at the local Social Services office. Of course, a lot of us more fortunate ones would respond that since they are homeless and unemployed anyway, they might as well be waiting in line, except that some these more fortunate ones are living in the neighborhoods where the homeless are waiting and are complaining about the problems engendered by such people while waiting.

I think what we can gather from this absurd situation is that the homeless issue is now clearly in everyone’s domain. Due to massive budget cuts in recent years, the institutions designed to handle the problem are obviously not able to do their job properly. If we make the effort to contact our elected officials and demand some creative solutions, perhaps we can get the homeless out of the waiting lines that stretch out over neighborhood lawns and into homes and jobs, where they belong.

SYLVIA RONSTAD

Arcadia