Mike Morefield/columnist

This weekend, Tucsonans flocked to the Tucson Convention Center to listen to the "musical" stylings of Ashlee Simpson. Although some people see Simpson as the embodiment of all that is wrong with the music industry, including nepotistic advancement, lip-syncing and selling out, she applied a modicum of good to balance the scale - her donation of the concert's proceeds to help the homeless problem in our city.

Although the song titles, "Undiscovered," "In Another Life" and "Give it All Away," were quite apropos, the lyrics didn't match the plight of the homeless of Tucson. The problem here is not that there are homeless people; it is that the city has not invested enough resources and time to combat a serious problem.

According to a UA study done in 1998, there are around 3,000 homeless people in Tucson at any given time. All of us have seen them on North Fourth Avenue with their dogs and finding recyclables in our trashcans, but these incidents are small and isolated, easily overlooked by our society.

The homeless population is a diverse one with many problems. One-quarter of Tucson homeless have mental health problems, 34 percent abuse alcohol and a large number of them, about 39 percent, have lived in Tucson for longer than a year. There's a good chance that the man rummaging for food in your dumpster has been a Tucsonan longer than you have.

All of us have been asked for money or help by a homeless person. The common response is usually, "Sorry, I don't have anything," and we move on, regarding it as a small, guilt-inducing incident in an otherwise long day. Don't feel that bad, though: Your city is doing the same thing. When the homeless community, or organizations on its behalf, reaches out, the city says, "Sorry, no change today."

The response of the city to the homeless epidemic is insufficient. Though the Tucson Planning Council for the Homeless has worked to combat the problem, its results have been mediocre.

Whereas some cities are setting up programs to help collect food from restaurants, Tucson instituted a no-dumpster-diving law. While other cities are setting up programs to teach job skills to the homeless, Tucson lacks such programs, even though 69 percent of homeless people in the city say they want to work.

According to Sue Krahe-Eggleston, executive director of Our Family Services, a Tucson organization that helps homeless teenagers, the major effect of the city's response to homelessness has been to "make the problem less visible." She said the lack of visibility is a double-edged sword: While it may limit the ostracism homeless people experience, it also pushes the issue underground, making it more difficult for the homeless to receive the aid they need.

Tucson stands to learn from the ways in which other cities have dealt with homelessness. For example, take FareStart, an incredible program created in the Seattle area. This 12-year-old program teaches culinary skills to the homeless in an intensive course and has a job placement rate near 80 percent. It incorporates a program that teaches barista skills to youth - handy in the city that created Starbucks, Seattle's Best and Tully's. These are the types of programs Tucson needs to implement to fulfill its moral obligation to the people living within its borders.

The overall unemployment rating has decreased significantly in Arizona over the past four years, but the rocky economy and high rent rates in Tucson don't allow people to regain their footing, said Krahe-Eggleston.

More extensive efforts by the city to lend a hand to the downtrodden are needed so that nonprofits and other organizations are not forced to shoulder the brunt of the problem. Although they mean well, the signs discouraging panhandling on East University Boulevard are detrimental. Instead of spending time and money trying to eliminate panhandlers, we should spend that effort to help them.

Many of Tucson's homeless have had to run from abuse; others just kept getting dealt the wrong cards. Most of them were once hard-working members of society who have since fallen on hard times. "Some of these people were working two jobs and lost one because of the economy, and the spiral starts," explained Krahe-Eggleston.

Tucson needs to realize that this problem will never solve itself, and unless something is done to lay the steppingstones to help these people merge back into society, the problem will only grow.

Mike Morefield is a political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu