The follow excerpts are from “Evicted, mentally disabled senior wanders Lancaster in the cold, lands at Mission”. a second in a series on the subject of the homeless.
“A bachelor with a mental health diagnosis, [Robert W.] Miller had continued smoking in his one-bedroom apartment after the 12-story senior tower went smoke-free Sept. 1. HDC MidAtlantic, the building’s owner, gave Miller several warnings and then gave him the boot.
“A trim, white-haired man supported by a small government check, Miller had no other housing options. A social worker was coming to take him to Water Street Mission, and he did not want to go…” (more)
WATCHDOG: Three wags of the tail for the editors and columnist Jeff Hawkes, a reporter whom many years ago we dubbed the “conscience of Lancaster” .
Our only concern is that there will be a happy ending to the series. Of course we would be pleased for Miller to find a snug home. But the point of the article should be that there remain scores of ‘Millers’ out there, many of them depending on overnight refuge in this frigid winter at places of worship organized by the Council of Churches.
The city government isn’t happy about the homeless lining up each morning across from City Hall to receive breakfast at St. James. Nor is the Lancaster Public Library up the street pleased to have the homeless sitting around. This is understandable.
An argument can be made that the better conditions are made, the more will come.
So what are we to do about the matter? Clearly it needs to be addressed at all levels of government.
Perhaps President Richard Nixon’s suggestion of a negative income tax would have provided an answer. Instead of our cluttered, inefficient and bureacratic welfare system, everything would be neat and simple.
But ours is country with a political system that gives us Obamacare instead of Medicare for everyone. Due to vested interests, we seem incapable of enacting common sense solutions proven successful elsewhere.
