Everett mayor wrong to oppose state plan on housing homeless

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Everett Mayor Cassie Frankling has it wrong and Gov. Jay Inslee has it right when it comes to helping house the homeless (“Everett mayor decries plan to house homeless in local motels,” The Herald, Nov. 4).

Inslee has an excellent initiative to house the homeless and get people off the streets with his Right of Way Safety Initiative. Doing nothing will make the problem worse. Also, simply adding more police won’t solve this complex problem. The police do not have the tools to solve this issue. Let the police catch a bank robber and when a leader offers to provide homeless housing it should be supported with open arms.

While Inslee’s plan is a temporary housing plan it is an important step to solving the housing problem. There are simply too few houses and when people don’t have a house they have little opportunity to contribute to the community. Franklin has spoken against our governor on helping house the homeless in our area. Doing nothing has not helped but allowed the problem to get way out of hand. We need a mayor that uses the bully pulpit and advocates for housing the homeless. I can guarantee that this issue won’t be solved until we offer more housing of all kinds in the area.

Gregory Wetzel

Everett