Boston Cab Driver: I Haven’t Seen Homelessness This Bad in 42 Years on the Job

Homeless Veterans
AP Photo/Steven Senne

An interview with a Boston cab driver reveals the sad reality of how many people are already homeless and desperate while the United States contemplated bringing in more via Syrian refugee resettlement.

From the Boston Herald:

If you want to know a Boston few of its denizens notice, talk to one of its cabbies, like Ford, 66, who has spent 42 years cruising the streets of this town in the wee hours.

“My heart goes out to those (Syrian) refugees, especially the ones we see carrying kids,” he said. “Of course you want to help. I’m sure that’s how the mayor, the governor and the president all feel, wanting to do the right thing for people in dire straits. I get that. I understand it.

“But when I’m out on these streets I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before, at least not as bad as they are now. When I heard Marty Walsh saying Boston would be willing to take in some of those refugees, I knew he was speaking from his heart. But if we bring them in we’re going to have to give them the works: housing, food stamps, welfare, medical. You can’t just bring them in and say, ‘OK, now you’re on your own.’ ”

Those are Billy’s thoughts as he crisscrosses the city, observing homegrown human devastation.

“I’ve never seen so many people sleeping on stoops or in doorways,” he went on.

Read the rest of the story here.

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