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Editorial Amarillo homeless issue requires compassion Only the most secluded in Amarillo missed some of the recent local media coverage of the homeless issue, including the controversy of whether Amarillo coddles the homeless. What some people call tough love is sometimes hard to distinguish from hardness of heart. Sometimes it is equally difficult to distinguish between enabling and compassion. Furthermore, long experience can be confused with wisdom and knowledge. After all, 20 years of experience can be new knowledge and growth, or it can be one year's experience 20 times. In the case of the latter, life in the world of certainty is more comfortable as are black and white solutions to problems that are really shades of grey. To put all this in the biblical context makes the issue all the more a hot-button one. But, the homeless deserve more than a label and to be told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Let's look at facts that call for more compassion: Veterans of the military form a disproportionate share of the homeless, reports the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Nationally and in Texas, the 2006 numbers are up from 2005, and Texas ranks high among the states with homeless veterans. Some 16,000 of 1.5 million veterans are homeless. Further, according to federal government data, 39 percent of the homeless report some form of mental health problem and 66 percent report substance use and/or mental health problems. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration noted as long as 10 years ago, "Traditional programs for homeless people with co-occurring serious mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders largely have fallen short." Perhaps it's time for Amarillo to reframe the homeless problem — using our hearts and our heads. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: February 14, 2008
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