Re: “Washington officials rip Trump order on homelessness as ‘unjust, obscene’ ” (July 26, A1)
This report highlights a common practice in addressing social problems, that of applying the hardhearted approach of criminalization. I’ve heard many times that we need to be harder on “them” — in this case, the “them” being the unhoused. There are politicians and many in the public who think that criminalizing the unhoused will magically eliminate homelessness. We just need to be harsher in how we treat them and stop enabling them by giving them free stuff.
This approach is not new, does not work and only ignores the deeper causes. Those mentioned in this article who are working to address the issue of homelessness are in a better position to know what works than the hard hearts of the Trump administration.
Jerry Gunville, Seattle
