DAYSPRING DIRECTOR EXPLAINS HOMELESSNESS

Lori Casson is executive director of Dayspring Center, which provides shelter, food and support for homeless families -- about 600 people annually -- to help them become self-sufficient.

"People lack education and good jobs, and so they're not able to make ends meet. The more education you have, the less likely you are to live in poverty.

"People are really surprised to find out that most homeless people work. It's just that they're not making enough in order to get safe, decent and affordable housing. They need to make at least two times what minimum wage pays in order to have the housing that they need.

"And a lot of jobs don't have the benefits that are necessary. So homeless parents may lose their jobs if their children get the flu, and they have to be out two days. They either lose pay for those two days, or they lose their job altogether.

"The biggest obstacle (to reducing poverty in America) is that it's such a widespread problem and doesn't have one cause . . . so there won't be one single solution.

"Homelessness is not the cause of anything. It's the symptom, and so we have to get to what the root causes of homelessness are, and then address that.

"Statistics show that if somebody grows up in poverty, then the chances are that they're going to be in poverty when they grow up. That will change unless something drastic -- an intervention of some type -- takes place.

"(Examples of intervention might be mental health and/or substance abuse therapy, medical care, education and job training, or help getting out of a violent relationship.)

"Some of the nicest people that I have met have been homeless -- they're really no different than you and me. We all have hopes; we all have dreams, but some people don't know how, or have the resources, to make their dreams come true."