text: Thank you Bree Kessler for taking the time to research the issue of homelessness in Anchorage. We are fortunate that some people look beyond the stereotype presented in the media. 
  
  Unfortunately, Anchorage has a ways to go. Irrespective of the mayor's attention on this issue, some veteran reporters and editors in the media continue to use disparaging terms like 'drunks' when they highlight the problem of homelessness and one public official even dehumanized the issue by disparagingly describing homelessness as a 'cancer' on Downtown Anchorage.   
  
  With that kind of cultural thinking, we need more reasoned and rational voices to address the underlying factors that lead to homelessness. These considerations include lack of housing and resources. The organizations whose missions are to address the physiological components of homelessness, such as mental health issues and substance abuse, need to be supported and their programs held to account with oversight for many dollars spent.