Reply #176: True - it is a question of "when", but even more important is "how".

[tango-tee]

We need to get folks on our side who recognize that shelters are not the answer. Shelters are the band-aid where the tourniquet of affordable, permanent housing is required.

In shelters, there are so many people in bad health who cannot afford to see a doctor and thus, illnesses are spread due to close proximity.

In a shelter, there may be a place to put one's head at night, but it is so very difficult to sleep peacefully next to someone completely unknown to you, and therefore you sleep with "one eye open". The body and soul can never truly find the solace a deep and peaceful sleep provides. And what happens during the day? There you are, having been ejected from the shelter after an uneasy night. It is morning, you are hungry. Where do you go?

You're out in the street again, because so many shelters are only open in the evenings and nights. You're out in the cold, the rain, the sleet and snow or the scorching heat of summer. And wherever you go, you're not wanted. You're simply not wanted. You are an eyesore. A reminder to folks who, in the recesses of their hearts, know: For the grace of god, there go I. And they would rather avert their eyes and pretend that you don't exist.