I’ll start by asking — what does this have to do with Griz or FCS football?
Second, I’ll share a harsh reality — Missoula does not have the resources to solve homelessness. And if we copy what San Franciso or Seattle have tried, Missoula will be destroyed faster than those major cities because we don’t have the same resources.
That’s why so many people from blue cities and states are moving to red states like Montana. Ironically, that's a huge reason why the cost of housing in Missoula is increasing. The good liberal Democrats of Missoula never bother to connect those dots.
Regarding the homelessness crisis in Missoula, the bureaucrats tasked with “solving” homelessness are not incentivized to solve anything. The worse the problem gets, the bigger their budgets get, the bigger their departments become, the more poltical power they gain, etc.
And that’s ultimately what this is all about — poilitical power. “Vote for me if you care about solving homelessness!”
They have no business jacking up taxes even further to buy old hotels or expand the Poverello Center. If they were smart, if they really cared about helping the addicts, they’d stop enabling them.
Sounds harsh, but have you noticed all the pot shops springing up around the Pov? Right next to the liquor store? THAT is where the money to solve holemlesness is ultimately going. Our local governent is feeding the addictions that are causing the homelessness. The underlying issues that led to addiction are never addressed.
The addicts get their checks, then they get drunk and high and commit crimes, inevitably leading to police, fire, and ambulances responding to clean up their mess.
Bottom line, Missoula will never have the resources to solve homelessness. And it’s outright theft to jackup our county and city property taxes and redistribute our hard earned money to the drug addicts and criminals, and cover the cost of their drain on our public services.