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September 8th, 2008
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A smart approach to an intractable problem


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June 4th, 2008 issue

In championing progressive ideas and an open-minded society, this page often finds itself at odds with the country’s political leaders. But this week we tip our editorial hat to City Councilor Jiří Janeček, who has come up with one of the most intelligent and compassionate programs for helping the homeless ever proposed in Prague.

Homeless people are an intractable problem around the world, and are by no means confined to chronic alcoholics who sleep in doorways. Single mothers, people who have lost families or jobs, the mentally ill — the swath of people who can’t cope and end up on the street is broad.
In this city, the problem is apparent the minute you step off the train, starting with the unpleasant odors that permeate the station all the way to the park outside, nicknamed “Sherwood” for its high crime rate. It’s usually filled with unpleasant characters, ranging from lost souls without homes to junkies who openly shoot up on park benches. It’s not a face that any city would want to show visitors.
It’s understandable that tourists, or for that matter locals, would feel annoyed or even threatened by such people begging for money. Periodic cleanup efforts have not been the answer, at the train station or any other place in the city center. Like weeds, the street people always return.
The only realistic way to address this problem is with a long-term, systemic approach that couples prevention and rehabilitation programs with law enforcement. Janeček’s proposal is almost visionary in this respect, streamlining outreach, health care, housing opportunities, financial aid and job incentives into one package. It’s ambitious and in some respects idealistic, but exactly right in taking a comprehensive approach.
As they should, advocates for the homeless are raising red flags, objecting to the “tough love” blacklisting of people who can’t follow the rules of the program. Their concerns are well-founded. Anyone who has worked with the indigent knows they live in a different, internal world that doesn’t mesh with the strictures of society. That’s why they’re homeless, or in jail.
But that’s no reason not to adopt Janeček’s program. Simply put, an effort like this has to start somewhere. No doubt the program will require refinement and adjustments down the line, and new ideas will be required to help those who continue to slip through the safety net.
In a larger sense, this is part of the continuing evolution from a socialist society where the state controlled its citizens and ostensibly took care of their every need. Change has been painful; older people who wax nostalgic for those days will tell you that life was easier then. But this is a new world that requires new ideas for running a productive and socially conscious society. And Janeček’s proposal seems to us a good step in that direction. 


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