    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [November 22, 1995]
    [Pages 1778-1779]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Blair Homeless Shelter
    November 22, 1995

        I'd like to just say one word, if I might. I want to say that
    Hillary and I came here to be with you at Thanksgiving and to celebrate
    Thanksgiving with our country because we wanted to thank the people who
    run this wonderful service here for their commitment, for their service.
        I also want to say a word of thanks to my friend Henry Cisneros, the
    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, because he put together a
    homeless initiative for the District of Columbia that helps this project
    and many others, because after I became President, I said I was just
    tired of seeing people on the street. I want us to do something to give
    people some hope, to give people a place to be.
        And on this Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Mayor, I say again, we are honored
    to be citizens of the District of Columbia. We are honored to have the
    chance to be with you and to work

    [[Page 1779]]

    with people in DC to try to deal with the problems here. We know we have
    a lot of challenges in dealing with homelessness, not the least of which
    is that the fastest growing group of homeless people are women and their
    children. And we've got to stay after this.
        I'd like to say one other thing, too, on this Thanksgiving.
    Yesterday I made an announcement that an agreement for peace has been
    made in Bosnia. A lot of people today are asking questions about how it
    will all be implemented. I'd just like to ask you to think of one human
    fact. In that little country so much smaller than ours, in that little
    bitty country, there are one million homeless families because of that
    war. So I hope on this Thanksgiving we can help more of our own people
    to find homes and we can help them to go home.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:49 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    Mayor Marion Barry of the District of Columbia. A tape was not available
    for verification of the content of these remarks.