In her Oct. 7 column “A safety net that leave them out” (Page A1), Yvonne Abraham tells one woman’s heart-wrenching story of the tragedies that befall struggling families when they lack a safe place to call home. In doing so, however, Abraham leaves the impression of a heartless bureaucracy, and leaves out much of the unprecedented effort the Patrick administration has made to eliminate homelessness to begin with.
As a candidate in 2006, Deval Patrick insisted that economic and housing policy fell morally short if it didn’t attack homelessness head on. And unlike many of his predecessors as governor, he actually made it a priority, creating in 2007 an Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness that drove a major shift in policy, from a shelter-based approach to one focusing on permanent housing solutions.
Comments
A woman gets raped and many others left out in the cold and exploitative world, and you want to applaud the Governor? Politics can be heartless. The Patrick Admin has fallen morally short and has not implemented his own commission's recommendations. An interagency council can talk all they want, but will get no place without housing and investing in families. Just ask the Dukakis Admin- who along with his own ICHH housed their way out of motels....and the Romney admin- who along with his ICHH serviced their way out of motels. The Patrick Admin talks a good game, but are they effective and shifting the crisis and attacking homelessness? Just ask the record # of families in motels and turned away...they will tell you that this Admin is better at simply attacking the homeless.