UPDATED: March 18, 2016 at 11:43 a.m.

We too often look to government bodies to create change in our communities. But maybe it’s time to realize that it really does take a village.

The New York state Comptroller’s office recently conducted an audit on regional homeless shelters. Most of them were noted as having shoddy living conditions: moldy, noncompliant with fire safety rules and overcrowded. Two shelters in Syracuse were even cited for safety violations.

But it’s not what you’re thinking. Despite the potential reaction that these organizations were operating unethically without governmental approval, it could be argued that the shelters were actually working in favor of the public, considering that with a state license comes greater restrictions and the inability to accommodate more people.

In situations like these, it seems the government’s blessing is given the utmost authority when it comes to how we assess the actions of institutions and people. However, as we see in this case with homeless shelters, it is the actions of caring citizens in the best interest of those they serve — regardless of legality. And in this spirit of emphatic charity, communities should step up to address the issues, including homelessness, that governments have not confronted satisfactorily.

Thus far, the state government has addressed these problems through recent executive orders from Gov. Andrew Cuomo which include increased funding for affordable housing and  augmenting incentives for the private sector to use its reach in aiding the poor. And while the state’s presence in the discussion is important, as citizens, it is our job to ensure that the results of these talks come full circle on a local basis.

“The government has already shown that it is not inherently efficient in solving these problems over the long term,” said James Taylor, the program director of Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, which operates one of the cited shelters, in an email. “The community should help by advocating for it’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged members whenever possible.”

The power of community action can be seen in different facets of local life in which isolated efforts from good Samaritans in Syracuse work toward the same goal of inspiring greater change.

With 461 people displaced, according to the latest count by the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Syracuse and Onondaga County, so close to home, Andrew Lunetta, a Syracuse University alumnus, is one local man who has made it his mission to do what he can to combat the cycle of homelessness.

Lunetta started by creating daily “drop-in” hours at the Brady Faith Center downtown so that those who had been kicked out of shelters early in the morning had a warm place to rest and regroup. He then saw the benefits of a community that provides stability for those without and created Pedal 2 Possibilities, a program that offers group bike rides for those who are homeless to promote strength and togetherness and gives frequent riders a bike to call their own.

Clifford Ryan, another Syracuse resident, founded OG’s Against Gun Violence, an organization that works to prevent gun-related violence against youth. Ryan responded an issue that made waves in 2015, when someone was shot about every four days for the first seven months of the year, according to Syracuse.com. Ryan works alone on the streets in order to promote safety and has established himself as a mentor for troubled kids.

It seems that when people are confronted with the task of helping others, especially those as misunderstood as the homeless, they feel obligated to eradicate entire issues like poverty. But Lunetta and Ryan’s work shows that when a community reaches out, it just requires acceptance, togetherness and inclusion to touch lives that the government cannot. And, sometimes, that can be all the difference we are expected to make.

We need local efforts that foster growth and opportunity for everyone rather than one that tolerates and funnels. The stand-up citizens going above and beyond are operating where the state has not yet reached on its long laundry list of issues to address. Communities need to work with the government to bring the issues that they care about to their attention to get the treatment they deserve.

When the government produces policies that recognize this human element that is often lost between the lines of legislation, society can better address stigmatized issues that are believed best kept hidden rather than acknowledged and resolved.

This notion has been realized in the city of Ithaca, which is attempting to combat drug-related deaths by allowing for supervised legal heroin injection. The plan would ensure that the individual is treated immediately by healthcare professionals if something goes wrong. These facilities would not only be the first of its kind in the United States — the concept has proven to be very successful in Canada — but also one that creates a comprehensive rehabilitative retreat in response to a taboo topic.

The line between how much of this responsibility should be on the government versus how much should be on the people is a fine one. Cuomo has hinted that the government would intervene to facilitate civilian involvement, and citizens should notice the populations flying under the radar of those in power and work to do what we can within our own realms: at schools, local institutions, around campus or even at home.

Furthering grassroots efforts is something that can help magnify these populations left unseen. We can start by helping those in our communities who need it to ensure that the government we elect represents its constituents with a human lens: something that should be taken extraordinarily seriously.

Joanna Orland is a freshman newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at jorland@syr.edu.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this column, the situation regarding the two homeless shelters was misstated. The shelters were cited for safety violations. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 8, 2016 at 11:22 pm