Dear Sir,

I would like to make the following clarifications concerning the April 22, 2017 article entitled “Homeless centre will cost $4m”.

A few months ago John Wight, the Chamber of Commerce president, indicated that neither political party had accepted their offer to be of assistance. Upon reading this, we immediately contacted Mr Wight with two main issues: gun violence and financial support every three years for a major social issue like the homeless. Mr Wight listened attentively, but we have not heard if the Chamber will support anything.

Second, while we can see school numbers dropping, we have not heard anything officially about closing schools. We were attempting to say that if such a decision was made the options would be limitless: a homeless shelter, seniors’ residence, because of the shortage, or facilities for technical studies. We know that closing a school would be a very painful and contentious action but we cannot ignore our current situation.

Sooner or later we will be forced to bite that bullet because of declining numbers and ageing plant.

We commend The Royal Gazette for its coverage of this key issue. The supplement raised awareness, as did the very first report by Rodney Smith in 1992, reiterated at the public meeting that was reported on April 22, 2017.

In closing, we once again salute the numerous individuals, churches, organisations and individuals who have written about this issue and taken action to help the homeless in many ways. We have no doubt that we have the potential to resolve this issue because we continue to take steps in the right direction.

DALE BUTLER and RODNEY SMITH