To the editor:

Oh, my goodness! Do the elected officials in Lawrence for the city and Douglas County really believe they can fix homelessness? I didn’t realize that I was voting for people with super powers during the last election. Are they naive enough to believe they have a better plan than Topeka or California or New York?

Sure, they think throwing around $276 million at it will provide the magic wand. However, it is more likely to simply add to the problem. Once the word gets out that Lawrence is throwing money into homelessness, more homeless will be attracted to Lawrence. To some degree, we don’t have a homeless problem in Lawrence. We have already created the transient problem. The old movie line about you build it and they will come. Our officials could probably cure the common cold before they could eliminate homelessness.

Every state in the country has a homeless problem. You don’t think the other cities or states haven’t tried something? As long as people are unable or unwilling to work to bring in enough income to purchase a house or pay rent, there will be homeless people. With the cost of a home becoming unaffordable, there will be homeless people. You just can’t fix that no matter how much you spend.

Roger Powell,

Lawrence