To the Editor:

Our welfare system costs taxpayers a fortune, but it actually keeps people dependent and in poverty.

My friend gets rental assistance of $900 a month or $10,800 a year. There is help for her and her kids. My father is elderly, and I am disabled. We're losing our home at the end of the month due to property taxes that the owner hasn't paid and because the house is in disrepair.

I've tried every charity and agency I can think of to no avail. If we could OWN the house, we could pay the back taxes for $5,000. There are organizations to help us fix the house. But we can't get it. We can get rental assistance of thousands a year, when for $5,000 we can own, and taxpayers wouldn't have to pick up the tab for years to come.

This keeps people either dependent or homeless. We can't get help, and, after April 30, we're homeless because the system would keep us dependent, and there's no help for people like us. What the system needs is a way -- a grant or a loan -- to keep us OFF the system and off dependency.

Becky Philo

Canastota