Homelessness in America - The case of Tim Finch

He had much in common with me - a middle aged man who wanted to do as much as he could for his children; a social man who enjoyed chatting with all types of people; a former high school football player who missed that excitement and camaraderie; a man blessed with a supportive family but who nonetheless had bouts of feeling unworthy. He even shared a first name - Timothy (or "Tim" to his friends and "Timmy" to his older family members).

The man in question was the late Tim Finch who died in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of historic Boston on July 4th of this year after being beaten up in plain view of hundreds of tourists and local revelers who ignored the homeless man's plight. See http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1106864&format=&page=2&listingType=loc#articleFull

I knew Mr. Finch personally, having been appointed about six years ago to represent him in a custody case involving his infant son. It was an easy case - Mr. Finch recognized that he needed to "clean up his act" in order to have a significant role in his son's life and that he was not in a position to have custody of him. He eventually acceded custody to his sister Karetta. He then set his mind to trying to defeat his alcoholism and get his life on track by working steadily and getting an apartment.

Mr. Finch was a kind and decent man. He endeavored to receive treatment several times for his alcoholism at the local VA hospital, but those stays were always too limited and he could not overcome this disease. For me, Mr. Finch put a "human face" on the homeless and gave meaning to the cliche "there but for the grace of God, . . . "

Mr. Finch is also emblematic of the problem of homelessness in America. To me, the extensive homelessness in our cities marks an inhumane societal failure. It's a blatant sign that we've flunked one of Hubert Humphrey's eloquent moral tests - the treatment of "those who are in the shadows of life . . ."

What can be done about homelessness? Is it so complex and intractable an issue that we should just continue to avert our eyes and say it's just some necessary byproduct of our free society and capitalist economy?

I think not. What I'd propose is increase private and government resources for treatment. Most homeless people suffer from substance abuse, mental illness or both. WE NEED MORE OF FACILITIES TO TREAT ALCOHOLISM, OTHER SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL ILLNESS - FACILITIES WHERE THOSE AFFLICTED COULD STAY FOR AS LONG AS IT TOOK TO ADDRESS THEIR ISSUES. Is it just me or did it seem like prior to the movement to assimilate people with these issues into society and de-institutionalize them, there were few if any homeless. Granted that some of those institutions were deplorable, but is the current state of thousands of homeless around the U.S.A. any better? Wouldn't such institutions now offer more humane treatment given the advances that have occurred in medicine, psychiatry and perceptions of basic human rights? Perhaps with such long-term care facilities more readily available, a good man like Tim Finch would not have had his life ended in the violent and ignominious way it was.