To the editor:

My name is Jay Sabol and I’m the administrator of the Salem Community Homeless Coalition.

We are an all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization that began operating on April 1st of this year. We have not been in existence for even five months and we have already found shelter or prevented homelessness in fifteen cases. There is a homeless situation in Salem. The homeless do not sleep on the sidewalks here or make camps with tents. They are hidden although we see them every day.

I’ve been thrilled by the revitalization of Salem. But it is a jigsaw puzzle with a piece missing. That piece is transitional housing. There are very few shelters and transitional houses in our county. They are usually full and when that is the case all we can do is put individuals up in motels for a night or two. It doesn’t solve the problem.

Salem has nothing in this regard and here we are the wealthiest town in the county. The more people that come to Salem the more homeless there will be. And please believe me when I say that not all homeless are addicts. People would be amazed at the stories we could tell.

The Salem area needs transitional housing and we need it now.

Jay Sabol,

Administer,

The Salem Community Homeless Coalition