EDITORIAL

Addressing homelessness

Posted 2/19/15

With snow falling what seems to be every other day and temperatures remaining below freezing, it can be easy to take for granted the warm home we can return to after an afternoon of shoveling.

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EDITORIAL

Addressing homelessness

Posted

With snow falling what seems to be every other day and temperatures remaining below freezing, it can be easy to take for granted the warm home we can return to after an afternoon of shoveling.

For more than 4,000 homeless Rhode Islanders, along with the brutal cold comes the blunt reality that they do not have that luxury. These individuals struggle to find anywhere to escape the cold; when and if they do, they don’t have large, warm blankets, fluffy pillows or a cup of hot chocolate awaiting them. Rather, they just have a lingering fear and a small hope they will be able to find shelter again for the next night.

This morning the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless released the homeless statistics for 2014 and for the second year the state saw a decrease.

Rhode Island saw the numbers peak in 2012 with 4,868 and now for 2014 it has declined to 4,067.

Despite the amazing achievement of helping nearly 1,000 people in two years, there is a desperate need to increase efforts as more than 4,000 of our own citizens see weather forecasts and worry about more than shoveling their driveways and getting to work late.

Now, that Rhode Island is part of the Zero 2016 campaign, we have a national eye on us waiting for success in less than two years. As the smallest state in America, we are in a unique position where such a goal is very real. It is achievable, but as the coalition has been calling for, there needs to be a true and real investment into affordable housing throughout the state.

Although shelters appear to be a cheaper choice, as Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homelessness explained, in the end, through associated costs concerning the homeless throughout the state, it can actually be pricier than housing these citizens.

Many of the state’s homeless are forced to use emergency medical services among various other programs or end up in jail. There’s a better way: affordable housing. More so than issues of cost, affordable housing helps people get back on their feet in a way shelters, despite their hard work, can’t. It restores a confidence and relieves stress, giving people the space needed for them to address the issues that ended up in homelessness in the first place. This process is necessary in ensuring that those same individuals don’t re-enter into the shelter system and end up homeless again.

Hopefully, in two years when it begins snowing we can all worry about nothing more than shoveling our driveways as quickly as possible to return to our warm homes.

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  • Justanidiot

    The cheapest and best way to deal with the homeless in RI is to give them a one-way ticket to Utah. Utah is dealing with the problem in a logical and humane way. So, the state wins and the homeless person wins.

    Thursday, February 19, 2015 Report this