CORBETT – The $63 million homeless plan passed by the Board of Commissioners is just more of the same…dumping money into a black hole. It will not solve, or even improve the homeless camping situation, nor will it improve the addiction crisis.
Dr. Meieran is right in her comments about the plan; this is just more of the same failed leadership we have seen from this chair and the previous chair.
We need to completely rethink the county’s approach to homelessness, keeping in mind that many of the people living on the streets are not locals; they come from other parts of the country for various reasons. Until we address that reality, any solutions will fail.
As we know, this homeless crisis is largely an addiction crisis. I propose a carrot and stick approach: to avoid jail, you enter a secure treatment facility (we need to repurpose/refit the Wapato Jail/Bybee Lakes facility for this).
In addition, I call for an audit of every non-profit receiving more than $10,000 per annum from the county. Let’s make sure we are getting something for our money.