Solving the homeless problem in a big city like San Diego is not easy. And we all know you can never completely eliminate the homeless problem.
But every city, including San Diego, is trying to find the best ways to make it better ….by finding the best ways to help the most people.
And anyone working to help the homeless will tell you not all homeless people are the same and are not all homeless for the same reasons and not all want the same kind of help.
That’s why the homeless problem is so hard to solve. San Diego now has more shelters than it used to, designed to give hundreds of homeless people a place to sleep, including efforts to expand the Interfaith Shelter Network which offers a place for the homeless on a rotating basis at local churches.
The San Diego Union Tribune this past weekend highlighted another program to help the homeless, called the Family Reunification Program. It pays for one way, one time bus tickets for homeless people so they can live with family or friends. And so far, it’s relocated about 17-hundred homeless people since the program began six years ago.
Some critics say it just moves homeless people from one place to another, but the people who run the program say they just don’t hand out bus tickets to the homeless and tell them see ya.
They contact their family or friends and make sure they are indeed willing to take them in.
Somebody will always find something wrong with every program to help the homeless, but different kinds of programs are needed to help all the different kinds of people who are homeless.
(Photo credit Getty Images)