Spartanburg homeless: Changing perceptions

In a 1992 monologue about Americans’ obsession of declaring war on things we don’t like, legendary comedian George Carlin said, “We got a war on poverty, the war on crime, war on litter, the war on cancer, the war on drugs. But you ever notice: There's no war on homelessness… You know why? There's no money in that problem.” While Carlin might be surprised to know that we do have a war on homelessness now, that problem, having been around since Colonial days, comes with a ton of obstacles: ample manpower, available funding, affordable housing, temporary sheltering, and a lot of individual belief that the war can be won. But year after year, the most critical obstacle to overcome by the people fighting the war is public perception – and to stand even a chance of solving this problem in Spartanburg County, area leaders and frontline volunteers are trenching in an uphill battle to change people’s minds about homelessness by the end of the decade to a view that has never before been in place.