[Mpls] At Home On the Island- the usual negatives in print

[m1r3201]

I have now read "At Home on the Island"
    Having worked with folks who are homeless, who have had to live outside and make the best of it...I am saddened at the oversimplification and triteness of this article.
     Trauma, mental health issues, the stress of trying to survive that then can create mental health issues...all seem sacrificed to a newspaper version of sound bite.
      The shelters are full and overflowing...the shelters are a difficult place for people without mental health issues to live, let alone people who may be experiencing psychosis, voices, mania, depression.
       Please do not assume that the all people who are homeless are mentally ill...that is not true.
       And, as Allyson Hoberg stated, there was no effort to speak to people who do regular outreach to those who survive outside.
       I was talking to one director of a housing program for homeless and formerly homeless people who referred to the mainstream media approach to covering homeless issues as "media drive bys". This article struck me as just that. This reporter intruded on people's living space,( yes, it is actually someone's home even if it does not have walls and a roof)  stepped into their lives and , for the most part, objectified them, caricatured them.
       As to the picture painted of the police as benevolent ... there are many, many instances of police harassment and abuse directed at people who are homeless.
       There are not enough humane resources for people in need of them.
        The reporter should have done her homework, simply going on the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless web site would have given her the information that there is not enough shelter space for people.
     And, shelters are not very humane -- even the best of them--- decent, appropriate housing should be a right in this country.
             Margaret Hastings- Mpls-Kingfield