Herald reporter’s work on housing issues is appreciated

Published 1:30 am Sunday, May 22, 2022

I was disappointed to read of Herald Reporter Katie Hayes’ farewell in Sunday’s Herald. Her final story on the Grand Apartments transition to corporate, market-based housing (opposed to local, family-owned ownership) is yet another example of how housing in this region continues to be neither sufficiently flexible nor affordable for people in need (“Even after housing ‘nightmare,’ new tenants pay more at Grand Apartments,” The Herald May 15). Particularly individuals with disabilities as Hayes chronicled in her series of articles on the Grand Apartments.

Last summer, I relocated to Whidbey Island for reasons similar to Hayes’ return to St. Louis. To be closer to family, and more specifically, to be with my first granddaughter. Sunday’s edition also had a letter to the editor from a 67-year old preparing to move into a new home. Her car. That letter offered wistful options to house the homeless, such as parks, campgrounds, and former military bases, and questioned our nation’s current investments in Europe. Like health care, I know that housing is not a right in this country, and collectively, I wish the supply of both heath care and housing would even wave at the demand.

Special thanks to The Herald for stretching its newsroom through temporary and innovative way stations like Report for America. For me, reporters like Katie Hayes, and Herald regulars Jerry Cornfield, Steve Smith, Dr. Sid Schwab, Andrea Brown, and Jennifer Bardsley, are bright spots in these pages.

As an individual reader, I can’t impact the sad trajectory of local, print journalism across America (my opinion). But, I can continue to subscribe, look forward to The Herald every morning, and encourage my friends to subscribe.

Write on, Katie!

Eric Steiner

Freeland