TIMES LEADER EDITORIAL
December 19, 2008
THE WYOMING Valley has a homeless problem.
That’s not to imply hundreds of down-and-out people pack beneath area bridges and highway overpasses each night, seeking temporary shelter. No, the problem today in this corner of Northeastern Pennsylvania isn’t numbers.
The trouble is our community doesn’t deal with homeless individuals in a compassionate, consistent manner.
No formal system exists here for getting homeless people to the right place(s) or connecting them with the proper service(s). And, privately, some people within the social services network say the impetus for creating that system might not arrive until someone’s frozen body is pulled from a lean-to shelter in the woods or a cardboard box by the river.
Why must we wait? Why can’t we agree during this season of hope, during this year of recession, that it’s our collective responsibility to provide unfailing access to this most basic of human needs?
The Wyoming Valley must create a coordinated approach to help its ever-changing homeless population, which includes adults hobbled by drug and alcohol addictions, former foster children, displaced families and war veterans.
Right now, the safety net sags in too many spots.
Charities reliant mostly on well-intentioned volunteers continue to do tremendous work through programs such as the Salvation Army’s Kirby Family House in Wilkes-Barre, the Catherine McAuley House in Plymouth and VISION, the shelter for homeless men that rotates among sites.
Yet for various reasons – such as occupancy limits and program rules – not every homeless person fits snugly beneath those roofs. Meanwhile, the area’s only drop-in shelter for women, Ruth’s Place, lacks a permanent base itself, having been displaced by the sale of the former First United Methodist Church in Wilkes-Barre.
Other faith-based efforts include Reach Inc., a daytime drop-in shelter based in Wilkes-Barre’s St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, and the startup Wyoming Valley Rescue Ministries, which this week received city zoning approval to set up a 15-man housing facility.
Each of these area programs provides some support, yet legitimate concerns arise about funding (where to get it, how to keep it) and safety (for program clients as well as workers, neighbors and passersby).
It’s time that Wyoming Valley charities put aside any lingering turf wars and establish a workable shelter plan. It’s time for area residents who harbor hostilities toward homeless people to subdue their fears.
And it’s long past time for the rest of us to acknowledge this problem exists and finally open the door for dialogue on how it can be fixed in 2009.