Help homeless population now

(THE JOURNAL’S) Sunday ... article about plans to alleviate our homeless problem in our city should be headlined “In 2022 we may have something to offer regarding homelessness.” Can we wait another three years? Have you driven our interstates, checked our city parks, looked at our medians? The city’s plan is asking the voters to pass a $128.5 million general obligation bond Nov. 5. Said $14 million of that bond is to assist our homelessness by construction of a compound to house part of our current population. Although there is a proposed picture along with landscaping enhancements, there is no real study of the problem mentioned nor a location determined.

Albuquerque does have some smaller homeless housing supported by the city that we could use as a benchmark here. It would also be prudent to take advice from other cities who have had successes and failures with homeless populations.

In the meantime, just drive any street where you will see empty retail building(s) and empty for-rent homes that could be converted to housing. The city could house homeless people within all neighborhoods. Use similar models which include ex-incarcerated, learning disabled, assisted living homes, to name a few. There are plenty of people who have social services degrees who could be employees managing these homes and helping these people to break the cycle of homelessness with proper information and referrals. I wish the mayor and City Council would just tackle this problem now in constructive ways so that this winter we offer our homeless population something other than promises.