Palm Beach County mayor wants problems with homeless fixed now

Click title for link to an article in The Palm Beach Post by John Pacenti. Mayor Vana wants the homeless congregation that uses John Prince Park as their home addressed. This is important to the city of Lake Worth as the park is right at the city's western boundary. I am sure that many of the homeless that we see in Lake Worth are part of the same group that can be found in the park. The article talks about small barriers that are large to the homeless population—like how to access the medical and mental care system to even knowing how to use the bus system. Even a minimal fee of $3 for this population can prevent them from accessing services.

From the article:

     Vana wants the problem fixed now.
     “Either the homeless people are going to be out panhandling to get our money or they are going to be in my house taking my computer again,” she said.
     She also criticized the fact that homeless people must make an appointment to get into the Philip D. Lewis Center, the county’s homeless shelter, must often get referrals from specialists to get the care they need and might have to pay a $3 to $5 co-pay for prescriptions.
     “These are homeless people who don’t have the skills to deal with all of this,” she said.

Definitely worth the read and it is good that it has the county government's attention, for now.