Seattle: House the homeless

I read with hope and interest that we now have a new head of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, Marc Dones. I sincerely hope Dones can make change for the good [“Leader of the fight against homelessness optimistic about ‘impossible’ job,” Sept. 24, A1].

I had the opportunity to live in Los Angeles for five months last year. During that time, I volunteered with the Freedom Socialist Party and the group End Homelessness Now-LA. These dedicated homeless-rights activists are promoting the concept of social housing urging the city of Los Angeles to convert their vacant buildings into low-income affordable rental units or to build homes on vacant city-owned land. The proposal would allow the city to own and administer these projects and provide needed services to guarantee the best possible success for the previously houseless.

Seattle needs no more temporary tent cities, no expansion of shelters as a permanent solution, no more sweeps, no more Band-Aids on the problem — just make it possible for homeless people to be housed.

A tall order, yes, but one that directly addresses the crisis. Don’t let the problem be handled by profit-seeking developers.

Best of luck to Dones on finding effective solutions for a difficult and challenging problem.

Chris Smith, Seattle