Letters to the Editor: The government failure at the heart of the homelessness and border crises

To the editor: Two editorials — one on the bureaucratic barriers to homeless people seeking housing, the other on House Republicans’ bad-faith border security effort — present similar problems.

Rather than facilitating the process to meet the needs of people who require basic services, lawmakers have built barriers instead of bridges.

Both safe housing and safe border crossing are human rights that should be honored, not curtailed. It is time for local lawmakers to speed up efforts to house homeless people, and it is time for lawmakers in Washington to craft more humane immigration and border security legislation.

Lenore Navarro Dowling, Los Angeles

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To the editor: As your editorial notes, people remain unhoused even though they have documentation such as state IDs and Social Security cards.

You mean outreach workers and state and federal housing bureaucracy can’t scan and upload a person’s information for safekeeping and future reference when permanent housing becomes available?

This is tragic and unconscionable. We treat our pets with more concern and dignity.

Claudia Zuercher, Redondo Beach