She Lives in a Van in Downtown Raleigh

One of the first homeless people I met when I came to Raleigh was Betty.  She lives in a van just off of Moore’s Square (yes, you read that right) and is sort of the “den mother” (I stole that line, as you will see in a moment) to the homeless in downtown Raleigh. No one has helped me more in my efforts to understand the situation of homelessness here in Raleigh.

Recently, Ruth Sheehan (a columnist here in Raleigh) wrote a column about Betty; you can read the whole story here. It is very well done and quite fair, two things you cannot assume when the News and Observer writes about homelessness.