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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letter: Covid challenges, solutions

Posted

COVID-19 has brought so many challenges to Las Cruces, NM and one of them is homelessness. Homelessness has always been an issue but as the years go on you see it more and more each day as individuals from California and other places are migrating to Las Cruces.

The city of Las Cruces has been very fortunate to have agencies like Las Cruces Gospel Rescue, Community of Hope, Salvation Army, and Casa de Peregrinos that are designed to help individuals that are left without a home, but are these agencies enough? We are constantly seeing more and more individuals out on the streets trying to look for shelter.

Research shows that Las Cruces is considered to be one of the poorest city areas in the United States with a poverty rate of 26.3% with the homeless population commonly
establishes themselves in the areas of the city known as El Paseo corridor, Lohman, Burn Lake, and west Amador.

On April 22, 2021, Richard Coltharp stated there was going to be a funding of $1.8 million going towards warehouse construction on the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope campus which is a great step in the right direction, but we need to think bigger. What do these
individuals need? What kind of resources can we offer them to make sure we can get them established enough to get them off the streets?

For the homeless population rates to decrease I deeply believe we all have to take action. By sending counselors and social workers out in the community to meet with the individuals and see what they need and what resources we can offer. By conducting fundraisers and donating stations to gather the supplies that they need. Follow up with them to ensure they are going in the right direction. Following up is the key, we need to make sure we are
advocating for these individuals. As Henry Young stated in an interview conducted by ABC 7 “I’m not asking for donations for us, I’m asking for donations for homelessness in general.
With this community effort, I think we can see a lot of it cleaned up.”


Katherine Chavez
Las Cruces


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