Reading the May 21 article “Work begins on homeless housing” about the planned 30-unit Lincoln Place apartments for the chronically homeless, I thought I had entered a parallel universe. What a deal.
Residents aren’t required to be “clean and sober” or even physically clean. They will have “round-the-clock” resident services, and if they don’t feel like cooking they “can stroll over to the soup kitchen for a free meal.” They will be “debugged” in a decontamination room. The “housing first” idea is supposed to “coax” residents to change for the better. Many programs are provided them, but “they aren’t mandatory.” Everything is free, and no effort to help themselves is required of the residents. Hey, is this Club Med for the homeless?
Finally, let’s dispel the idea that “federal funds” are somehow free or manna from heaven. Federal funds are real money paid by taxpayers. Taxpayers are already supporting all those who don’t pay taxes. A “housing first” project is doomed to failure because when everything is free there is no motivation for a change in behavior. As with other similar homeless schemes, this will end in taxpayer money wasted and a new tenement.
Mimi G. Kimbrough
Vancouver
