Fencing Not A Good Solution To Homelessness

"This summer, with budget cuts taking a toll and the homeless population swelling, Back Bay residents are increasingly complaining about the street people living among them, from the benches along Commonwealth Avenue to encampments under the Bowker overpass....Police who are called usually roust the homeless, but they frequently return. So some neighbors and officials are calling for a more permanent solution: They want the state to fence off the areas that are most frequented....It's not clear that fencing off the area would drive the homeless from the area. Though many residents say the problem has worsened this summer, for years homeless people have slept under the overpasses along Storrow Drive. Some of them have created fairly elaborate living spaces there." One homeless resident, who refuses to leave, acknowleges that there are other places to sleep in the city, but he calls the area, where he has lived for years, home.

Thanks to Connie Chung