Editor, The News:
Re: Ridge creates plan to end homelessness (The News, Feb. 20).
I had to check the calendar after reading the article. Nope, it’s not April Fool’s Day.
This ‘plan’ is destined for failure as in Vancouver, where hundreds, if not thousands of low-cost housing units have been built over the past 40 years, yet there are still people living on the streets.
It will fail because homelessness is not the problem, but is one of the most visible results of a society that has chosen not to deal with the real issue.
Low-cost housing doesn’t resolve substance abuse or the lack of programs to address mental illness.
It simply hides those who suffer with the problem from the view of society.
This is a totally inhumane way to deal with citizens in any society.
Any society that insists on the rights of individuals without requiring any responsibilities is doomed to fail.
Maple Ridge council should spend more time looking at issues, such as ways to reduce taxation, improve our transit options and transportation routes, to name but a few, instead of trying to address an issue that was created by years of federal and provincial government neglect, and their refusal to fund programs that would end homelessness.
Graham Mowatt
Maple Ridge
