It is unfortunate and disheartening that Sam Blakeslee and Greg Gillette are not receiving more traction and input on their efforts to look at current apparently ineffective ideas to reduce homelessness in our county.
I believe they are running up against a roadblock by our now created Homeless Industrial Complex. Individuals involved with different nonprofits and agencies would have to give up power, positions, or salaries to bring all of them under one tent, all speaking the same language and working toward the same goal. These individuals include politicians, nonprofit directors, and multiple other stakeholders. The one-agency method has proven effective in many cities in our country. It would involve reducing the compassion element and becoming laser focused on requiring individuals to get off the street.
California has the largest homeless population in the country. And yet they represent only .0044 percent of our state’s population. Billions of dollars are being given to solve the problem and it continues to grow.
I think Blakeslee and Gillette deserve a chance to shift the paradigm. Our current methods are not working and are a failure.
Paul C. Hertel
Arroyo Grande
This article appears in Weddings 2022.
Homelessness is not a housing problem. It is an addiction problem, and homelessness is just a symptom.