As I See It
Can we really wait five years to solve homelessness?
If La Crosse is going to solve its homelessness problem, it won’t happen anytime soon. The city has spent years trying a variety of plans for housing the unsheltered, from putting them up in a motel for the winter to letting them camp in a city park during the warm weather months. But it certainly didn’t solve the problem. There are still an estimated 114 people living on the streets of La Crosse. Now the city is beginning a partnership with La Crosse County to work together to solve the homelessness problem. But crafting that plan will take time. They have given themselves five years to put together a plan seeking to eliminate the problem. That is a long time before we can expect to see fewer people living on the streets. Clearly this is a complicated issue, and many local groups are working to solve it. It is good to get the county involved, because homelessness is not a problem unique to the city of La Crosse. But couldn’t they move more quickly? They are taking some small steps, like making plans to open a location, perhaps the Southside Community Center, to provide shelter when the temperature drops below zero. But that is a temporary fix. A wider strategy is needed, but it shouldn’t take five years to come up with a plan.
Bob N.
October 27, 2023 at 5:38 am
Combining City people who don’t have a solution with County people who don’t have a solution will result in a larger group of clueless people.
If the goal is to have every person gainfully employed, living in a house or apartment and not bothering anyone, construct a Yellow Brick Road.
The Human Services bureaucracy will not face the facts: Vagrancy is only eliminated by not tolerating it. Instead, they feed it. To admit this would be to admit that all the millions of dollars already spent right here in La Crosse County were a mistake. The approach used was incorrect and a failure. Those government employees involved will never admit it. The “5 Year Plan” is a joke-they have no plan. They are buying time to get the heat off their back
Greg Symons
October 27, 2023 at 6:07 am
You’re absolutely correct. The only way to end homelessness is to change the hearts of the homeless. Like the old adage says, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”. No plan will work unless the homeless want to get with the program. Evidence from past attempts suggest our government is “spitting into the wind”.
Tom
October 27, 2023 at 8:46 am
If being unsheltered at zero degrees isn’t enough to motivate someone to change their circumstances, maybe -10, -20 will…?
Lucenut
October 27, 2023 at 3:56 pm
One thing is clear, our morons in public office cannot solve the “homeless problem”. Please stop allowing them to spend tax dollars, and fiddle with a condition they have NO control over.
nick
October 27, 2023 at 6:44 pm
California has spent over 17 billion from 2018 to 2022 and the homeless situation is worse.
The state took a poll and 55% said they want to be left alone.
If you did some research, you would have realized that it cannot be solved. You just run your mouth.
The city and counties are wasting their time trying to do so.
Thomas S. McDonald
October 28, 2023 at 8:50 am
No one EVER talks of root causes, like the unchanging, habitually mediocre public school system that, by design, leaves these folks behing
Kent Porter
October 31, 2023 at 6:34 am
WRITE IN KENT PPORTRR FOR MAYOR CRAZY PEOPLE WILL GO TO THE HOSPITAL FOR MEDS AND SYC HELP ALL OTHER HOMELESS CAUGHT WITH METH. HEROIN AND DRUGS AND DRUNK IN PUBLIC WILL GO TO JAIL AND GET DRIED OUT. PROBLEM SOLVED !!!!!!!!!!
walden
October 31, 2023 at 9:18 pm
Until the homeless industrial complex is willing to take a position against the drugs pouring across the open border…not one more dime. Giving them money is simply subsidizing Biden’s policies.
100,000 Americans died last year from drug overdose as a result of Biden’s policies.