Letter to the Editor

Homeless Czar

As the homeless czar I would use the tax money to retrofit vacant government buildings with beds to screen and treat those with mental illness and drug addiction and then get those just down on their luck into rapid re-housing with job training etc. At a League of Cities session the speaker on homelessness said 10 years ago their mantra was “housing first” but proof you must get those with mental illness and drug addiction into treatment was when a woman they just got into housing only, has her 2 kids still on the street 10 years later! Unfortunately the mantra today among the agencies is “housing first” with “wraparound services” where they counsel against drugs, etc. When I asked how that works, I was shocked when they boasted that 20% of the drug addicts get clean! What? That means our taxes are paying for new housing so 80% of addicts can keep their drug habit! Wait until neighbors of a new taxpayer funded housing project realize the new tenant can break into their home for drug money! And wait until we become a magnet for addicts in storm-ravaged states to come to sunny Southern California and get a free apartment while continuing their drugs.

Margaret Clark, Mayor, Rosemead

cell (626) 833-6673

clarkeeesc@yahoo.com