I'm consistently befuddled by the problem of homelessness in New York. It's a life-threatening problem for 35,000 New Yorkers every single night. 35,000 people without the essential safe haven of a home is too many...

Homelessness is a problem that shouldn't be a problem. There are the means in this city to provide every person who needs shelter with shelter. If it's not the resources... then what causes 35,000 people to go without?

The issues are as different as the people who face them:

• One person is mentally ill, walks out of his supportive housing, then has his Social Security cut off because the SSA can't find him to get him his checks... without money, without medical care, he is homeless...
   
• One person loses an apartment because she can't pay the rent anymore... she gets by for a while on the kindness of friends and family, but soon finds herself with no money and friends who are frustrated at her because they think she's been free-riding... she can't make enough money to pay a security deposit anywhere, she falls into a depression, and she finds herself homeless...
   
• One person moves to New York for a better job, he finds that the person he was supposed to be living with is a drug addict and a theif... he walks out... into a city where he knows no one, where there is little if any help... he is homeless...
   
• Another person is addicted to drugs... at his best, he can manage OK, but at his worst, he misses work once too often, and gets fired... so he gets a job, gets money, gets another apartment, and starts using again... soon enough, he is homeless...

I'm convinced that there is a way to address homelessness better than we do now. "Better" meaning: fewer homeless people on the streets every night.

• The first point in the solution is to treat every scenario as a complicated issue involving both individual responsibility and social responsibility. Every solution to homelessness should encourage and support a person in the process of finding, paying for, and keeping their own home; AND every solution should demonstrate that society is willing to support a person toward this end...
   
• The second point is to provide each homeless person with an accountable peer to help them and guide them. This is where churches can be extraordinarily helpful. Church members can care for individuals, help them gain access to the services available to them, and make sure they stay on the upward path.
   
• The third point is that a greater investment by government and the private sector needs to be made in providing housing with dignity for those who are at the bottom of life. This is, I admit, a "wasteful" idea. But I think that God wastes all kinds of love on people who haven't done anything to deserve it. If that's God's economy, it should also be ours. These same people on whom we "waste" our money are likely to be able, within a period of time, to support themselves and give back to others.

I truly feel like homelessness is a problem that can be addressed much more passionately and conscientiously than we do it now. For more information on the issue and for ideas about how you can help, see the mayor's office, Common Ground, and www.ecclesiany.org.

The solution happens when you get involved!