The City/City Commission has done a good job controlling our homeless issues, but when the temperature falls into single digits up north –
This morning, there were homeless advocates, with about 4 vans full of food and warm clothes, attending to what looked like over 100 homeless.…
Here are the stories of three of them
On the far left is Thomas, 57, from upstate New York. He said he can’t stay in shelters (HAC) because of his alcohol problems.
Thomas seems very weak, trembly, says he has been on the streets of Fort Lauderdale for about 3 years. He survives on $780 a month in disability payments.
Next to him is Elizabeth. She is 59 and came to America as a teen from Glasgow Scotland. She says like most women on the street, she has been sexually molested. She says she has reported it to the Police, but “the guy is still on the streets”. Says she also can’t stay in shelters due to a serious drinking problem.
Then there is Joseph Anthony Jones.
Quite a character – Jones, 44, says he is a hobo, “been in 52 states”. Says he gets a Navy pension of $700 a month. He says he drinks a lot, and to prove it pulled a beer out of his blanket and put it on his head, his “breakfast”. Told me to take a picture.
I asked him what the solution was for people like him and his friends, to get them off the streets…
He just started quoting the Steve Miller Band – “people living on the streets, there’s a solution, you’ve got to fly like an eagle …”
I left as confused with the issue as ever ………