The Sequim City Council proposal for mobile showers for the homeless community has been rescinded; https://www.sequimgazette.com/news/sequim-councilor-rescinds-request-for-mobile-showers-in-city/
Rather than dealing with the problems of homelessness and looking at viable solutions, the Sequim City Council seems to be hanging on to ways to add more of a burden on the taxpayers to provide “free” solutions – like this mobile shower “solution”. Fortunately, it has failed. There have been so many “ideas” that don’t deal with the problem in a realistic manner: Ideas that have been tossed forward like allowing tents to be put up on private individuals front yards (without homeowner input); or the city paying to rent a room from homeowners for a onetime payment (with no thought about liability issues). And now they are looking to “throw up some housing”.
Who will pay for this? All this after voting to raise the sales tax rate by a percent to help solve the problem of homelessness.
We need to stop throwing money randomly at the problem and take a hard look at what needs to be fixed. Find viable solutions to help people become productive members of society. There are so many jobs that are open, with no one willing to work. We need to give hand ups, not hand outs. We need to address the mental health crisis and have resources for people who aren’t able to live on their own. We need to help those who are living with addiction who desire to get clean but have no idea how to begin. We need to reduce property taxes, regulations for building, open land resources, and reduce the cost of government fees in order to build.
In Sequim, we have Serenity House, Oxford House, and Sarge’s in Forks (which has now expanded to Port Angeles and Sequim with their new Minsky Place property), to name a few. Let’s support organizations like these that have an already successful track record and others like them.
It is time to get involved.