As I'm driving to my office, I notice a homeless man on the sidewalk pushing a shopping cart. Even though it was only around 9 AM, I could see that his filthy T-shirt was soaked with sweat and grime. He must've had a hundred pounds of rags and other trash piled in the shopping cart. Whatever was in it, it was so heavy he was straining to push it.
Even though the city of Mesa doesn't have as many homeless people as our neighboring city, Phoenix, we are beginning to see them all over our city. And we might begin to see more. Because recently merchants sued the city of Phoenix to remove several thousand homeless people who live in the center of downtown in an area known as the "Zone." I believe the merchants won the lawsuit. Which poses the question of where will homeless people go if removed from downtown?
Over the years I've heard a lot of debate about whether homeless people are mentally ill? Or maybe drug addicts? Or perhaps both? To me, it doesn't make much difference what they are unless one is proposing to solve the problem and get the homeless off the streets. It is going to take a multifaceted and well-financed operation to help clear Arizona's streets of the estimated 6000-7000 people who live on them.
Many of TLC's clients fall under the category of homeless when they arrive at our door. At least 95% of them have no place that they can call home.. About 40% come to us from jail or prison and the rest come from various places – mostly the streets. Most of those who come to us have a primary problem of addiction - though many also have borderline issues with mental illness of one flavor or another.
When the homeless come to our program and stay for at least 90 days we give them the skills to become self-sufficient. The interesting thing about homeless people is that as a rule they're not lazy. Living on the streets is one of the hardest jobs a person can have. They struggle every day to survive. They have to find food. They have to figure out how to stay warm in the winter and cool in our blistering summers. Where can they bathe? Wash clothes? Find health care? Just getting the basic necessities of life is a hard job when one has no income.
If they stay with us long enough we can teach them how to live a productive life. And, obviously, they must be motivated to do something different with their lives.
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