Letter: Secure housing for our homeless

Why are our children hungry and homeless before our eyes? The No. 1 reason is lack of affordable housing.

Between 2014 and 2015, 2,313 children had unstable housing, with families unable to afford rent and food. Numbers in Clark County increased by 62.7 percent in recent years. Living in shelters, parks, cars or in the open, thriving emotionally and physically is impossible for children.

Insecure families means insecure communities. Our mindset about poverty must change. We must remember the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” and to care for the poor. We must stop blaming and take action. No child is ever to blame for his poverty.

So, connect on a personal level by volunteering in a shelter, at your faith outreach, at the food bank, at the school or the “Y” or make summer lunches. Call your legislators, because we need help on a federal and state level.

In November, hopefully, an affordable housing tax initiative should be on the ballot. It will only be pennies for homeowners. Please vote “yes.”

Pope Francis said that in many parts of the world, children are hungry and it has become the norm and it must not be that way. So let’s change it.