Patrick Lane: People struggling with homelessness are still human beings

To The Daily Sun,

I was disappointed to read a letter to the editor from the executive director of Belknap County's restorative justice and court diversion program discussing "the homeless issue." In his letter, the executive director listed a number of different people and organizations harmed by "the homeless issue": government services that have to provide services for the homeless; police and firefighters who have to respond to calls involving homeless people; tourists who might have to encounter a panhandler; and businesses that might lose customers because a consumer has to talk to a panhandler.

Those are surely important people and institutions to which we have a responsibility. But conspicuously and shockingly absent from the executive director were the people most impacted by "the homeless issue": people who are homeless. The homeless are often forced to sleep outside, exposed to the elements, ranging from dangerously hot to dangerously cold. They are easy and frequent victims of crime. They are largely unable to treat and manage chronic medical issues effectively, leading to disabilities that make it hard for them to reenter the workforce. And, as bad as any of it, they are treated as less than human by so many people.

That mentality appears to have worked its way into the Belknap County restorative justice program. The executive director's letter generally treats homeless people as a problem that needs to be dealt with rather than people in need of help. It seems impossible for Laconia or the county to meaningfully improve "the homeless issue" when those struggling with homelessness aren't viewed as humans in need of help.

None of this is to say we should not do more to address homelessness — quite the opposite. The point is that one cannot truly solve "the homeless issue" without first seeing people struggling with homeless as people in need of help.

Patrick Lane

Laconia