Kudos to Nancy English and Kristen Carreras for their recent letters about the homeless. However, the content of another letter in which the author describes the homeless as “unpleasant, for the most part,” reflects a deeply troubling mindset. The homeless are human beings just like the author, and I believe we should assume that they, like the rest of us, are making the best decisions they can in the moment.

Many are struggling with mental health, substance abuse and other issues that we can hardly imagine, in a world where the resources are minimal and difficult to access. Many are struggling to find shelter in a market that is a challenge for healthy, employed individuals and families. Their attachment to their pets and what they perceive as their “freedom,” to the detriment of finding a place that is warm and sheltered, is evidence not of their unpleasantness, but of the tenuous nature of what they can control. They are choosing to have access to the few small things that make them feel valued and worthy over what we believe to be the more rational choice of housing security.

Our job should not be to condemn them for making what we believe are irrational choices, but rather to help them find a way to fit into our community and gain a measure of control, self-respect and pride that will sustain them as much as shelter and stability. That is a long-range strategy that will serve our interests as much as theirs.

Ned Chester
Portland

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