The Trib reports that the Duluth City Council wants to address the issue of homelessness. I found these two paragraphs pertinent:
“According to the Maxfield study which was done in April of 2014, at that time it was determined that we needed approximately 2,482 units of rental housing for people who earn 50 to 80 percent of median income. Of those 2,482 units, we’ve only actually successfully created 336,” he said.
“We’ve just barely touched the need for that particular group, and that contrasts with the need for full-market-rate apartments,” Anderson said. “It was determined that we needed 1,092 of those units. Well, guess what? We’ve overdone it there. We’ve created 1,318 units.”
Perhaps tonight when I attend the Mayor’s State of the City Address at Lincoln Middle School at 5:30 she will address the issue of homelessness in Duluth. I wish her well. I think other Mayor’s and City Councils have done the same in the past.
At the moment the Duluth Schools have some empty buildings that a few developers have looked at for “market rate” housing. That’s for people in the market who can pay full freight. However, as someone who serves lunch once a month at the Damiano Center and whose wife comes home with stories from the CHUM Shelter and who regularly hears about students in our schools who have no home I’m well aware that the growing economy is still leaving folks behind who can’t afford market rate housing. It will be so much better when the Ryan Plan goes into affect replacing Obamacare so that those without insurance can return to scavenging health care in our emergency rooms.
or as Scrooge said “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
And while they are doing it they can live on the streets. God forbid America’s 2,043 billionaires would have to pony up more taxes to even things out. At least President Trump’s taxes can go down now that he’s dropped a billion dollars in the ranking.
