It was heartening to see Richard Borreca’s column about cooperation between Gov. Josh Green and Mayor Rick Blangiardi to create the Aala Respite facility (“Without political rivalry, governor and Honolulu mayor are able to address homelessness,” Star-Advertiser, On Politics, Sept. 22). This is a step forward for helping the homeless in our community. We need many small steps like this to stop the bleeding, but unless we significantly change our terrible neoliberal economy and society, we’ll never make a lasting difference in homelessness.

These small steps are only temporary pain relievers; we need a genuine cure in the form of overhauling a corrupt, callous economic system. Otherwise, there will continue to be tragic levels of poverty and despair. We all need to get together, with courage from community leaders in politics and especially from ordinary citizens who rise up and speak out, to overhaul the system. It isn’t even close to working except for a privileged, uncaring few.

Peter Greenhill

Moiliili

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