Real facts about our homeless population

Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “We are entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts.” The “facts” in Paul Thompson’s letter to the editor are opinions and incorrect.

As a volunteer at SideWalk, a non-profit agency working to re-house homeless adults, I meet the homeless. The “vast majority” are neither alcoholics nor addicts. Yes, there are some among the people I’ve met, but they are a clear minority, and in my experience, many would not be “self-medicating” if they had a safe home.

Two “categories” that may constitute majorities in the homeless population are those with mental illness and those on disability income. Unemployment of 5 percent is considered “full” employment because 5 percent of our citizens are not capable of holding down a regular job. Way over half the people I meet are in one or both categories.

For many others. greedy capitalism does play a role. Large retailers pay minimum wage, demand odd shifts that make going to school nearly impossible, and their employees need food stamps to survive. If they lose housing. it is impossible to find another place. The line from President Reagan’s de-funding of mental institutions to today’s homeless epidemic is clear.

As for city policies being a magnet drawing addicts to our city, that opinion is also not true per census results and studies. In my three years at SideWalk, the vast majority of homeless have been local. Not a single client from anywhere has ever suggested homeless services here are the reason they came to Olympia.