Is Lawrence attracting more than its share of homeless people?

Maybe so, but if that is the case, the answer may be better regional planning rather than a reduction in local services.

The Lawrence Community Shelter and other agencies that provide meals and other services to homeless people don’t spend much time worrying about whether those people come from Douglas County or somewhere else. They are people who are in need of food, shelter, clothing and perhaps some counseling or mental health services. Especially during the current weather conditions, addressing basic needs is the primary concern.

Whether the quality and quantity of local services makes Lawrence a magnet for homeless people has been debated for years. This is certainly a compassionate community that wants to reach out to people who need help, but it’s also true that Lawrence may be providing more than its share of that assistance.

A story in Sunday’s Journal-World noted that the nearest homeless shelters outside of Lawrence are in Topeka and Kansas City, Mo. Both are filled to capacity, but officials at those shelters say they generally don’t suggest that people they can’t serve go to Lawrence.

Interestingly, Wyandotte County has no emergency homeless shelter and Johnson County has only a Salvation Army family shelter that doesn’t serve drop-in clients. It’s unlikely that two of the state’s largest counties have no issue with homelessness, and yet, they don’t have basic facilities to deal with that population.

Perhaps some regional planning is called for. Lawrence residents help support a broad range of homeless services through both their tax and charitable dollars. Is there a way to encourage government and social services in other nearby counties to step up and do more?

The people who operate various Lawrence services for the homeless know that many of their clients come from outside the county, but they don’t really care. They are helping people who need help.

That’s certainly laudable, but it also would be nice if officials could address homeless needs on a more regional basis so that other nearby counties could share the responsibility by providing more and better services for homeless people in their communities.