Reader comments
Report on homeless mixed

Just where does one go to help find help? There's a homeless woman living in her car in Logan and no one seems to know which way to turn. Temps are starting to fall, she's been trying to find a job with no luck. Where does she turn?

To Puzzled:
I have been watching 2 homeless families in my S. Utah town who are homeless and frustrated. I see them being sent from agency to agency...they tell them to go to the local housing authority about some supposed program they could turn to or some funding and they are turned away since the waiting list is not even open. Every agency seems to know of a program that in reality doesn't exist! One family lives in a tent in a friends backyard, but tensions are building between the families. It's pretty cold to be living in a tent. The other family is at the womens domestic violence shelter and they are not finding housing either. Both families have a working parent, but it's hard when their employers have cut hours to 30 hours a week or so. They were given a lot of food stamps (too much), but that doesn't help much when there is no kitchen to cook food in. The homeless shelters don't seem to be able to accomodate families. They are really down. I see people hatefully blaming the homeless for their circimstances.

Of course there are people who blame these people. The reason - they think they are above the human situation. Given the right circumstances we are all capable of anything. Many of these people are mentally sick and many are families. How about the great cult building shelters for these people instead of the glutting the world and Utah with cult temples. We should be ashamed of America and what it does to those that suffer.

are great motivators. The 34 year old guy interviewed was probably speaking for a lot of homeless people when he said homelessness is a choice. That being the case, these folks should be either kicked out on the street or institutionalized if they have mental problems. Even with the bad economy, I still see help want signs all over. They may not be C-level positions, but they're jobs.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Supreme Being would rectify this horrid situation by Divine Fiat? Why the wait?

IF utah can afford millions on so called New highways, then why cant they help families who desperatly need HELP? or is our new govenor blind to whats going on, or does he care?.

Every Time I come out of a Wal-mart or any store through UT County, to the Salt Lake Valley, I always see people holding up their signs, that say "I Will Work For Food" sometimes i wonder when people give the Homeless $$ I was like they work hard for their $$$$ Why can't they. What they do with it is their problem, We can't judge them, in what they decide to do, I would always say "GET A JOB"but now i realize the whole meaning on why people give,

I would love to join you in all your efforts to end human suffering as I am sure you personally have donated enough time and resources to erect medical centers and housing for all those who need it. I'd also love to stop by your home to help out with dinner, since I am sure you personally are hosting several people who have no where else to go. Let me know when your busy schedule is free, since I'm off to the great cult's humanitarian center to can food for the less fortunate. They really are a bunch of selfish losers, but sadly the great cult is the most organized charitable group in the area so I must endure them.

Logan is not to friendly to the homeless. The only real organized help in the area is the LDS Church. Even that is just local Bishops doing there best. There is a transient Bishop that will provide short term help but encourage them to go to there family. A lot of these people spend what little money that they have on booze, cigarettes, and drugs. Typically they have burnt the bridges with family and will go from one hand out to the next exhausting those resources as they go. There is very affordable housing in Logan and if 1 person can work at min. wage full time will at least have a roof over there head. Food stamps and programs through Bear River Health to cover utilities can help them get on there feet. The real key seems to be that the person needs to WANT to help them selves before anyone is going to be effective at helping them. I commend these organizations but are they just perpetuating the problem by giving free hand outs.

I think Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck are right.
Why help these people?
Let them pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
Stop leeching off everybody!
Let the liberals take care of them!

puzzled, to puzzled. I'd like to help. Where is this person?

As a social worker, I have worked with many homeless people. Their are many reason why people are homeless. Sometimes it is not their fault, but in most cases it is. They have burned bridges with family and friends therefore have no support system. They have not made wise choices with occupations, drugs, crime, or even associates.

The best way to help is to take in a family member or friend when they lose their home.

What struck me is the offering of a 12 step in Provo at the shelter there, but a lot of people at the 'Road Home' "chained" by drug addiction. Do they have a 12 step there? I think the answer is not to give them a handout but a handup.

The obligation to maintain human dignity is universal. We should not allow human beings to live in conditions we would not allow dogs to live in. Providing food, shelter and medical care is something we do for felons and there is no reason we can't provide the same for people who's only crime is being disenfranchised. It has taken me the better part of a lifetime to understand that if even one person is denied human dignity, we all are. Human dignity is not only a right, it is a shared universal quality. The same human energy that resides in me resides in you and our capacity for suffering is shared as well. The world will change only when everyone accepts that we are all the same. Blaming and judging poor and disenfranchised people is just sad. If you are blessed with intelligence, wealth, beauty, good mental health (if you are "rich") and you judge harshly and berate those who lack these blessings you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus's words, not mine.

To Anonymous--the social worker,

Some of our loved ones are released from the Utah State Hospital before they are stable. They could harm us or kill us if we took them in. I would love to give my relative shelter, but she tries to kill people when she is delusional. There are so many mentally ill, some of whom are dangerous and some who are not, who fill up our homeless shelters. Sadly, federal laws do not allow state social workers to treat them without their consent, and some of them are so crazy, they don't know what they are doing. This is a sad and sometimes dangerous situation for many of us.

It is very simple, if you want more "homeless" then provide more programs and benifits.

I JUST DONT GET IT. I MEAN, HOW HARD IS IT TO FIND A HOME? HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS. YOU DON'T NEED ACTUAL WALLS AND A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD TO HAVE A HOUSE. "FIND YOUR HEART AND YOU SHALL FIND YOUR HOME"...AL EINSTEIN

There is a place for compassion. My wife and I run a faith based homeless center in MO. We have done so for 7 years. A lot of the homeless people are dealing with life controlling problems. They have to be challenged to do something different. We have a work program for all able bodied people, and a zero tolerance policy in re: drugs and alcohol. Tough love works and we have seen many successes, but there must be love. We can't just be cold hearted and let people die. There is a place for a delicate balance. Thanks