The Cold Reality: Homelessness In Idaho And Beyond

There was a guy at City Park and he looked homeless. A few days before Christmas, I stopped to look at the city’s nativity scene. The display is behind a security fence, a nod to a modern culture rife with vandalism and satanic outbursts. I took a few pictures to send to friends and then began walking back to my car. Then I saw the man. At a picnic table. He looked disheveled. He had a large bag of what looked to be possessions. The air temperature was 27 degrees.

On Christmas Eve, I saw another fellow. He was pushing a grocery cart along Fillmore Street, just south of Pole Line Road. You thank God that isn’t you, but that thought follows your concern about how the man you’re looking at will stay warm overnight. He was on the street by a very nice hotel. One he can’t afford and possibly has no interest in sleeping in a bed at the place.

Homelessness isn’t simply an Idaho or American problem. Last week I read that Canada and Great Britain have the same issues. Immigration to Britain has increased in the neighborhood of 30-fold from 20 years ago. Which makes me wonder how we’re going to deal with the flow over open borders.

Liberals talk a good game about printing money for new shelters. As if we can warehouse millions of people. A few lessons, they don’t want the homeless staying near them, and they don’t want new developments that would despoil Mother Earth.

This is a supply and demand issue. Too few houses and apartments and too many people chasing a place to call home. Since the people on the streets don’t vote, there won’t be a solution soon.