Our homeless are here to stay

Merced County and city can not just close its eyes and doors to the homeless.

The homeless and the problem they represent will not just go away -- if anything the problem will increase. Giving them a place to stay is a critical issue, however, it is not that there are no places available.  There is room at the inn.

The rules and regulations which exist just do not fit the habits of the homeless.  Just look around the county and there are lots of available spaces which could be used.

Castle Development Center is one. It still has the old dorms, which were used by the Air Force.

"We can't use them," said a public official not to long ago. "They aren't up to code!"

Well, neither is having people live on the streets or in a squaller at the end of our town. Who really cares about being up to code anyway?

Certainly not the county.

Just take a look at the office they use at the county dump -- or the little ticket booth at Lake Yosemite. These are hardly up to code, and they continue to be used.

Now the county has the old hospital building. It was good enough for our sick and injured only a few months ago. Is it up to code? Is it available for the homeless?

Not our problem! The county might say. "This is a city problem."

Hardly!

It is all our problem.

The city, the county and all of us who call this valley our home.

We have to take the good with the bad. Our courts have said that the sex offenders don't belong anywhere close to schools, churches and parks. That leaves little place for them to go.

Why not allow them a part of the old hospital building. Put them together so the only ones they offend are themselves.

"But who would manage them? Who would manage the facility? How much would it cost the tax payers?"

These are questions not easily answered. But we don't want them living at the Ritz.

A toilet, a shower, a bed and a light to read by. A sanitation inspector might be good. But leave telling them what they can do at our churches ... or places like the Salvation Army.

Many of the homeless won't go to other shelters because they can't drink and do drugs.

We don't condone either, but they are going to continue if it means sleeping on the streets.

Why not give them a place to rest their heads.

They are people.

We owe them that!