City doesn’t need to be a magnet for the region’s homeless

City doesn’t need to be a magnet for the region’s homeless
by jeffrhodes

The Port Orchard City Council heard what, to my ears, was a chilling presentation on Tuesday night from a group calling itself the Kitsap Continuum of Care Coalition.

Although its true agenda is curiously mentioned nowhere in her agency’s title, KCCC coordinator Terry Schroeder was anything but mysterious about her goals.

“We want to establish at least two tent cities for the homeless in Kitsap County by the winter of 2010,” she said. “We’re asking city governments to evaluate their city ordinances and determine the permitting process for these tent cities by the end of August.”

To be clear, Schroeder and her group aren’t asking for city facilities. Rather, they envision churches and nonprofit agencies donating space and resources.
The city would merely sanction the program.

According to the Coalition, Kitsap County currently has a homeless population of around 3,000, less than 400 of whom are located in South Kitsap — although that number would presumably grow should ours be the community that rolls out the welcome mat.

Personally, I have a hard time seeing how a Port Orchard City Council that just a few weeks ago passed an ordinance banning billboard advertising on the basis of aesthetic and safety concerns could suddenly decide it has a duty to attract more transients.

On a human level, there are undoubtedly some heartbreaking stories among the county’s homeless. But by definition the city council is responsible for promoting the welfare of its residents, not those who would become residents — in tents and temporary encampments — if only Port Orchard made it hospitable to do so.

Quite simply, the city has enough problems of its own without inviting someone else’s to move here — along with the crime and drain on public resources that would surely follow.

As cold as it sounds, the first priority of the city council is to make Port Orchard a better place for those who live here, not for those who don’t live anywhere.