Good comments on the homeless issue.  I, too wonder if the “ten year plan”  to end homelessness was ever possible.  There are those who are intractably homeless, and those who  choose that lifestyle rather than being clean or sober.
There are people who have mental illnesses, some undiagnosed, some diagnosed where the patient will not take the meds, and some who fall into a category for which I have no name. Others are people I call “takers” who live off others one way or the other.
But there’s another category, too:
Like the mother and children who have no home because of domestic fighting, abuse, or their spouse incarcerated and not providing a living.  Or the man who has lost his job, his home, and a big part of his dignity.  Or the person who is fighting their personal demons, and working to regain employment, and maybe even their family.
It’s not an issue that we will decide here.
I know that some of the homeless represent the lazy, and the shiftless. The tormented…
You know… the wretch….
Like me.

( Just spoke with Bert Rosen at Knox Area Rescue Ministries: Their overnight total population was 392- a little lower. — Crossroads served 219 people- and it’s designed for 125 maximum per day. — And KARM served 1,100 meals yesterday .)

I wonder if the “ten year plan”  to end homelessness in Knoxville was ever possible.  There are those who are intractably homeless, and those who  choose that lifestyle rather than being clean or sober.

There are people who have mental illnesses, some undiagnosed, some diagnosed where the patient will not take the meds, and some who fall into a category for which I have no name. Others are people I call “takers” who live off others one way or the other.

But there’s another category, too:

Like the mother and children who have no home because of domestic fighting, abuse, or their spouse incarcerated and not providing a living.  Or the man who has lost his job, his home, and a big part of his dignity.  Or the person who is fighting their personal demons, and working to regain employment, and maybe even their family.

It’s not an issue that we will decide here.

I know that some of the homeless represent the lazy, and the shiftless. The tormented…

You know…

The wretch.

Like me.

The one in that song.