The homeless in SLO must envy the lucky in Portland who can land a spot at Dignity Village.
It is hard not to see a parallel between Dignity Village and Dan De Vaul (except Dan goes it alone with government interference and Dignity Village has government helping).
Imagine if our county had embraced Dan De Vaul’s efforts instead of attempting to vilify and destroy him and SLO’s version of Dignity Village.
In Portland, the city built “wood shacks” for the homeless; in SLO, they only tear them down while telling the homeless “to eat cake.”
You can’t solve all homeless problems with Dan De Vaul’s operations or with the city/county’s operations; each one serves clients’ different needs for help, each one serves a different constituency.
If Portland applied SLO’s standards to Dignity Village, they would be tearing it down instead of building it up.
Talking about the visual mess and being uncomfortable in their presence is a “nimby” position, not a legitimate one for our city/county to support.
Why are our leaders so blind/elite/uncaring to our homeless?
This article appears in Jan 12-19, 2012.