Tacoma’s Homeless Situation
Tacoma is in the midst of a crisis situation. Not only here but all over this country, unfortunately. Our City Officials’ “Hands Off” policies are inhumane and counter productive to Tacoma moving forward.
There are a multitude of reasons that people are homeless. The fact that we are in the recovery of a worldwide pandemic has not helped matters. People are experiencing deficiencies across the board.
However, there are issues far beyond any specific reason that a particular person is homeless that are having a huge, negative effect on our city. The biggest issue of all is the free-for-all with regard to encampments all over Tacoma. The answer to homelessness is not to remove all rules and regulations and let tent cities overrun our streets and neighborhoods. The amount of trash, pollution, crime, open drug use and chaos that citizens are experiencing on a daily basis has risen along with their frustrations. Every citizen should feel safe in their neighborhood, place of business, or even while out on a walk, without feeling threatened or uneasy.
Tent by tent, human being by human being, we need to regain control over our city and get people off the streets and into a safe place of recovery.
The truth is, no human being should have to resort to sleeping in a tent or makeshift shelter. We need to address each situation as to why a person lives on the streets. Allowing this to happen is not going to resolve anything, only perpetuate their situation further. First and foremost, we need to find the children that are living on the streets and get them, and the person responsible for them, into stable housing. No child should have to suffer due to the situation of the person to whom they entrust their lives. It is not that child's fault. They need to know that they matter and deserve better.
From there, we address each situation at its core. Get to the root of each situation, with trained professionals and get that person the care that they need to turn their life around. TPD needs more Crisis Service Officers to handle the ever changing landscape that continues to spiral in Tacoma and Pierce County. Whether it be mental health issues, addiction, lack of guidance, a lifelong pattern of poor choices or a multitude of social problems, every person deserves a chance at a better life. Every person deserves food and shelter and the opportunity to undo their situation. Providing them a tent is not going to change what is happening in their life, it will only sustain them one more night in anguish only to wake up the next day and repeat the nightmare that has become their life.
Rather than spending millions on tent cities and temporary structures, shouldn't we better spend that money on providing them Social Services to turn their lives around? Spend that money on rehabilitation, education, training and provide them with inspiration to do and be in a better situation than they are today. Help them along the way to improving and evolving. Get them out of tents, evaluate their situation, and put them into rehabilitation.
We have got to turn this around. We need to provide guidance, not turn a blind eye, to the root issues that these people are facing. We need to assist them in regaining control of their situation and maintain order, provide structure in their lives and restore peace to our streets. Every situation can have a positive outcome and our community can return to normalcy. We can feel safe in every neighborhoods. We all have the ability to turn this situation around and take back our city while enriching the lives of all of the people who call Tacoma home.
The more we perpetuate what the current administration is doing, the further away from a true solution we will all fall. Re-electing the same people over and over will continue a dysfunctional pattern that we have all been witness to over the last few decades. That is not progress, that is stagnation.
As Mayor, I want to lead the charge for Tacoma to turn things around and be a model for the rest of the country to follow.