The recent series of stories in The Royal Gazette on homelessness demonstrates the need for a combined community effort to deal with the issue. Health and Social Services Minister Nelson Bascome is correct in stating that the issue is complex, with its roots in many areas including mental illness and substance abuse. There are people who simply prefer to live outside of societal norms, without the burdens of taxes, jobs and responsibilities. In return, they give up shelter and the like as well. But this is a very small minority. The homeless with whom the community must be concerned are those who are without shelter or adequate financial support through no desire or, to a degree, fault of their own. To be sure, as Shadow Housing Minister Michael Dunkley has said, this is due in part to the lack of affordable housing, and there has been little improvement in the "housing crisis" since 1998, in spite of some additions to the local housing stock, although not as many as the community might have expected. That is because demand for housing has continued to increase since then. More workers have come to the Island since 1998, increasing the number of work permit holders to levels unseen since before the 1991 recession. At the same time, there seems to have been an increase in the number of families. And the growing elderly population also adds to the pressure, either for apartment units or for larger homes. So adding to housing - and the only real way to so this is to add to all classes of housing in North Hamilton - must help to alleviate the problem. But it will not solve it. That's because most of the people who find themselves in a housing crisis are the least able to cope with life and the challenges it presents. They earn the least, have the least education and when a job is lost, illness strikes or eviction looms, they have the least to fall back on. It should be added that bad choices contribute to this. A disproportionate number of people in crisis are single parents (and sometimes single grandparents) who have had children early and out of wedlock, ended their own educations early and who have few "transferable" skills. In an increasingly automated society and in a Bermuda that relies more and more heavily on international business (which requires a high level of skill and education and fewer people) and less and less on tourism (which demands less skilled labour and more people), these are the people who will be increasingly marginalised and will find themselves without jobs and without shelter. Activist Sheelagh Cooper is right when she says education and training are key to ending the problem; this training isn't just necessary for jobs, but for what educators now call life skills. The lessons that need to be learned could be as simple as balancing a cheque book. But more than that is needed: It's time for educators, politicians and the like to stop side-stepping the issue of having children out of wedlock and of letting teenagers think that doing poorly at school, or leaving school at 16 is somehow acceptable. It's not and it should be made clear to those who make these choices - and they are choices - that they should not expect Government or anyone else to come to their rescue when they get into trouble, as they almost certainly will. Bermuda spends as much or more on education per student as any other jurisdiction in the world, and those who choose to throw their opportunities away need to know they will get no sympathy. Those who have already made those choices should get a second chance. Government can and should look at ways of ensuring that people have housing and support. But they need to also they are working and saving and making good choices if they want to continue to get the support they need.