The beautiful cities of Issaquah and Sammamish are home to many entities and recently they have been home to Tent City encampments.
In spirit, the residents of Tent Cities are people who have no home and are labeled as homeless. However, in actuality, they are experiencing homelessness, which hopefully will be very temporary.
Involvement with the homeless can be both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The homeless camps are similar to an iceberg with only a small portion visible to the observer, with the hard reality hidden from view. It is heart wrenching when the camps are moved again and again, leading to a very unsettling aspect of being relocated to a new location every few months.
Conversely, the appearance of homeless camps is not the real issue. The fundamental concern would be to understand who these people truly are. Are they employed, registered to vote, do they have bank accounts, a social security number, a cellphone or use of a telephone?
Do they have access to medical insurance, how old are they, are they going to school, do they have a family and if so, where is that family? Are they alone in the camp, and where are they from originally?
If this type of data was gathered and the demographics established, additional information might still be necessary in order to learn what caused people to be where they are or why they are still there. The next task would be to find out what is needed to get them out of the camps and off the streets.
What if they were provided a bus, train or plane ticket to their hometown or somewhere that was safe for them? Would that be helpful and would they accept it? Do they have a place they could go to receive proper counseling, guidance and medical assistance? Would it help if they were provided a job offer, temporary shelter and medical or mental health assistance?
They might not be moneyless, but in reality not have enough funds to cover all their basic expenses. Many have had a home and most importantly they need to have a home once again.
What is a home? Most certainly it is not a Jungle or a Tent City. The word “home” has many positive attributes. In baseball, “home” plate is a safe place to reach. In other words, home is not just a place to live, but like home plate, a place that is safe and secure.
The issues of the homeless will need to be navigated with an array of fresh and logical ideas in order to attain achievable goals, while at the same time working towards preventing the recurrence of homelessness. The solution might be innovative or could already exist.
The real objective is to eradicate homelessness. In retrospect, it is not so much that home is where the heart is, but more fittingly, we need to find a suitable home for the heart.
Sammamish resident Larry Crandall is a retired educator who currently serves on the city’s Planning Commission.
