The Editor,
Re. "Wake up to plight of your neighbours" (Letters, The Tri-City News, July 17).
I have just read Erin Styles' letter regarding Port Coquitlam council turning down an extension for a homeless shelter and I agree 100% with what she writes.
Homeless people are not homeless by choice. Riverview Hospital was closed and now has been left to rot.
The people who were turfed out had nowhere else to go and ended up on the Downtown Eastside.
It's a complex problem to be sure but shutting down social programs and facilities is not the answer.
And Styles is right: The people who are down and out are some of the kindest, warmest people you would ever want to meet.
Lorell Gingrich, Coquitlam