Dignity, housing, and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency

Dignity

Re “His father made him a ‘pod’ shelter to get him off the street. Then it was impounded” (sacbee.com, July 23): You only need so much to live. This is what I have learned as a high school student who spent the last week simply on a farm. You don’t need to eat meat in every meal. You don’t need electricity. You truly don’t need a toilet. But you need your dignity. We view homeless people as less than human, and treat them as so. But all that separates us from homeless people is a few bad decisions or a mental illness. The day we realize we are all equal will be the day homelessness no longer exists as a problem.

Housing

Re “Why Sacramento plans to demolish and replace an entire neighborhood” (sacbee.com, July 23): Sacramento plans to address its low-income housing and homeless issues by demolishing 218 occupied units, and replacing them with 200 low-income units and 280 garden apartments-town houses to be priced at market rates. In other words, nothing for the homeless except 218 more homeless families.

Mismanagement

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is doubling the size of the housing projects off North 12th St., which means another evolution of mismanagement, lack of leadership and waste. As noted in the Alder Grove/Marina Vista Land Park Public Housing project, SHRA continues to contribute to issues such as crime, fear of retaliation by tenants, drugs dealings-use, prostitution, little or no security, no parking enforcement and more. If SHRA properties were managed by property management companies and not government-subsidized, the issues noted would be handled and dealt with and not left to linger.

 

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This story was originally published July 24, 2017 at 9:34 AM with the headline "Dignity, housing, and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency."