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Letter (Leonard Carter): Three cheers for Steven D. Leman taking a stand on the Warm Room

I would like to thank Dr. Leman for his first-hand observations concerning some of the more negative consequences of trying to solve the homeless situation at least in winter. First, I have no axe to grind with anybody, nor do I consider any person associated with the Warm Room movement here in Tahoe to have anything but the best intentions toward his/her fellow man. However, good intentions are not enough!

Exactly what Dr. Leman testifies is happening, has been happening for years in other towns and large cities. The local resources become overwhelmed as shown, for example, by San Francisco spending “hundreds of millions of dollars on the homeless” from what I have read in the SF Examiner. Yet, according to a recent pole, the homeless and the problems it has created is considered the No. 1 problem in San Francisco by the locals.

In other words, what has been commonly tried in other cities has failed to remedy the homeless problems, but has created even larger homeless problems. This brings to mind a common definition for insanity, which is, “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”



Dr. Leman is right in that if we start down this road in the same basic manner, like other towns and cities have done, then we can expect the same results, which is a never-ending demand for ever larger local resources; and from other cities examples, little or no meaningful reduction in the problems. Those who desire to help the homeless, whether in winter or not, need to think outside the present common box and also get serious with the real consequences which they could be causing.

(Leonard Carter and his wife said they have over 30 years combined experience in the professional social work field locally in Tahoe and in Nevada. Plus they have been foster parents in the past and have also taken into their home teens, outside the system, that were at risk of being homeless.)



Leonard Carter

South Lake Tahoe, Calif.


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