Submitted by Carol Colleran.
Pierce County passed the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act on March 21, 2023. This is a long-term action to help supply affordable housing to our neighbors whose income is at or below 60% of Pierce County’s median income ($82,574) and have behavioral health issues, are veterans, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, homeless or at-risk of being homeless or are domestic violence survivors.
Often people without housing are generalized to all be drug addicts, thieves, or otherwise unsavory. But talk with them and you will see they are human beings who have difficulties beyond their ability to pay rent, especially in these times of historically high rent costs. The causes of their difficulties are numerous and the majority of the unhoused are hidden, not the ones you might see on the streets.
Thank you, Pierce County Council, for taking this positive step towards helping our neighbors, including hundreds of children. Soon there will be fewer unhoused people.
I’m retired. My property taxes are already $500/mo. I don’t live in a McMansion.
Just keep increasing the tax load on homeowners and you may end up with MORE homeless–not fewer. In this world, there are grasshoppers and there are ants. I hope someone knows the difference before deciding who gets helped.
We’re already seeing what happens when you raise the minimum wage: You lose clerks and get computer check out at grocery and fast food restaurants,
Some things that sound simple have an unforeseen cost.
Concerned in Puyallup,
Yours is an astute observation. I wonder if anyone is listening.
There are those in society, especially in politics, who suffer from the Sherwood Forest Robinhood Syndrome. They take from the rich (the rich includes all self-sufficient hard-working citizens) and give to the poor (the poor includes all those who do not know how to work and spend what little money they are given on tattoos and dope, commit crimes, and generally become what we refer to as societal losers. They call this socialism.
I have worked with poor, down-and-out citizens. Often, you cannot help these people since they lack enough common sense to help themselves. I have provided economically attractive, clean, and pleasant rental properties only to watch the losers destroy what I have spent time and money providing them.
Do not get me wrong. I am always happy to help someone in genuine need who is willing to take steps to help themselves and who is willing to pay back once they are able to do so.
If the subject is a blood-sucking leach, please keep your tax-grabbing hand out of my wallet.
Capitalism Makes. Socialism Takes.
Joseph Boyle
Carol Colleran.
Where and how is the tax collected? You have kindly informed us that you are pleased and excited to come for our money and what it will be used for, but you do not inform us how you will grab our cash.
I am sure self-sufficient citizens would like to know.
Joseph Boyle