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As an organization familiar with the issue of family homelessness in Massachusetts, we at Horizons for Homeless Children found Brenda Buote's story "Ever more difficult to make ends meet,'' (Globe North, Feb. 10) to resound a well-known theme among families who live just below the poverty line: the juxtaposition of low incomes with high housing prices.
Too many families in Massachusetts and across the US struggle, subsisting on minimum-wage salaries, to provide basic shelter for their children. Often these families are literally one paycheck away from homelessness and find any complication, such as the loss of a spouse or a family illness, insurmountable.
When the family contains young children who require child care during working hours, the problem is even further compounded.
Providing a quality early childhood education option for families endeavoring to stabilize their living situations is one way to alleviate their hardships. Supporting the parents of homeless families on their road to stability through education and job training is another. Horizons for Homeless Children will continue to advocate for and offer both until the disparity between income and housing is bridged and the cycle of homelessness can truly be broken.
Åsa Fanelli
President and CEO
Horizons for Homeless Children
Roxbury
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
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