Maybe A Solution

I go through Spokane on occasion because I still have appointments to keep. 

The other day I drove by apartments that were vacated because they were drug dens, and many people were fed up with these residences. 

The consequence? More homelessness than ever. The issues about the war on drugs now has turned into  a housing crisis. I’d like to offer a solution though I am sure I will get many people opposed to this. 

This issue is in trying to rid our city of the bad apples we ended up punishing those who were mostly innocent who were unfortunately enough to be living at the wrong place. I knew this was going to happen. It happened in other cities too, such as Seattle and Portland, Oregon. 

It is no fault of those tenants who were evicted because their neighbors chose to be addicts. Rather than punish everyone, the authorities should have just kicked those bad elements out and not have to punish the innocents. 

Anyway, the solution is to reopen those closed up apartments, as well as those unused office space on multi-level businesses in the main city center and have available rooms and apartments for these homeless people. 

Now, there would have to be policies in placed such as being employed, clean and sober, and no active crime records on their applications. 

Building new apartments just aren’t cutting it when it’s apparent they will be outpriced for the homeless and even those who live in housing now because of what these developers expect to charge these future tenants. 

I pay over two thousand dollars a month for my mortgage. I can just imagine what these property management companies are expecting from future tenants who most likely will have to take home at least high five-figure income to afford to live in these places. 

In my proposal the housing would have to be subsidized through FHA, VA, and SNAP. Of course now that the present administration is in control, it’s unlikely any of this is going to happen anytime soon. 

Granted this country has always had the issues of homelessness and poverty. We always had people who were drug dependent, flaunted the law or were unrepentant criminals with no redeeming values that lives among us.  

It makes no sense for any property management company, let alone a city to punish all just to make some point that they are helping to fight the war on drugs. It’s a lose lose proposition.