Jan. 25, 2006 - 18:35 MST

TONIGHT ?

An article by Daniel J. Chacon of the Rocky Mountain News in today's issue makes me think of the old thing, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Quoted in full:

HOMELESS NOT SO DIFFERENT

Survey says No. 1 cause of homelessness is losing job.

"Until she spoke to the homeless, Jana Bake never realized how simple it is to fall into that predicament."

"A lot of people have lost their jobs, and it only takes maybe one paycheck for someone like me to be in the same situation," she said."

"On Tuesday, the 45-year-old single mother of three was trying to help people already facing the dilemma. Baker is among the more than 200 volunteers who have been scouring the Denver area conducting a census of homeless people. The annual Point-In-Time study, a snapshot of the homeless population, is a tool that service providers use to apply for funding and develop strategies to meet the needs of homeless people."

"This survey is the only organized effort to truly determine the number of people who are homeless at any given point in time in the seven metro counties area," said Linda Murphy, director of the Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative, which administers the survey."

"The survey also gives government agencies and other providers a chance to identify trends and evaluate programs to determine whether or not they are working."

"The two page survey, available in English and Spanish, takes from five to 10 minutes to complete."

"It contains a variety of questions, from age and education level to reasons why the person became homeless."

"Murphy said "several thousand" people have been surveyed so far. The results won't be announced for several months."

"More than 10,200 homeless people answered the survey last year. It revealed that nearly 3,700 children and young people did not have a permanent place to live on the night of Jan. 24, 2005."

"That was probably the biggest eye opener for me," said Baker, who works in community relations at Kaiser Permanente. "There's a lot of kids out there who are homeless."

"The 2005 survey also found that more than 17 percent of homeless people were living on the streets for the first time and for less than a year, and that the No. 1 cause of homelessness was the loss of a job."

"These are people who never, ever would have imagined themselves being homeless. Ever," Murphy said. "If you really talk to a large cross-section of people, you realize that they're not that different from us or our uncles or our aunts. It's like we know these people."

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Yet our administration tells us the "economy is up," still big manufacturers are laying off, closing plants. Some companies going into bankruptcy and barganing to come out of it if only the employees give their pound of flesh. Flesh that they and their forebears fought to gain from a way back.

The highly touted rise in employment fails as far as I can read to mention the reduction in wages those who obtained jobs had to live with on their new jobs.

I am not enough in the know to be able to point the finger of blame, nor say why we got to the point we are at present. I also feel that this is not just a local "Denver" problem, but country wide.

But I am sure that waffling and lying about things is not the way to go. And judging by the present propaganda those in the lead are trying to have it both ways. It is the responsibility of those in power to face up to the facts and solve the problems.

There are times when I wonder if the moneyed corporations and pooh-bahs are trying to put our populace back into the middle ages. Wonder who will be Scrooge-in-chief when the Shrub is uprooted ?

There is something askew in the brew when companies are fighting bankruptcy, jobs going overseas, our gulf-coast in need and not getting enough help soon enough - - - - and yet the economy is up ? ? ? ? Hah !

There are people who have lost their jobs, used all their money, their savings and finally have nowhere to go, where are their CHILDREN TONIGHT ? . . . . . . . . . . .

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