Worsening homelessness is ‘a crisis that is rocking the American Dream’ | Opinion

Assigning blame for lousy trends

Somehow blaming the Biden team for “homelessness” and “hiding” the stats is easy.

I suspect your editorial board did it to get buy-in from the conservative population here. Ignoring the uncertainties in the HUD “PIT” report is easy too, but also irresponsible.

If you actually look at all the report numbers (it started in 2007), you can see some big question marks. The numbers until two years ago were in a declining pattern. The “18% increase” you quote hides those improvements and declines in total counts.

Among Blacks and veterans, the raw numbers have gone down. Among +55 having health issues, the numbers are horrible. The numbers of kids living on their own or in single parent families are awful.

The numbers from 2007-11 were (you ignored this) very close to the current “band” of raw numbers, even with big areas of relative current improvement and declines.

The greatest share of the worsening recent trend of unhoused people may well be linked to a broken immigration border, unstable families, crippled capitalism and a court system where there is no way to treat mental health — a crisis that is rocking the American Dream. Not easy or popular to fix.

Jack Howard, Kennewick

Headed for cuts in entitlements

Despite promises of protection, cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements are on the table. Trump wants a “big beautiful bill” that incorporates extension and increases in the 2017 tax cuts, money for deportation of undocumented people, border security and other expenses.

Since these will supercharge the national debt, it will be necessary to raise or get rid of the debt ceiling. Many GOP lawmakers oppose that unless it’s accompanied by $2.5 trillion in offsetting spending cuts.

Billionaires representing AI, social media, big pharma, crypto, etc., have been flocking to Mare Lago with 7 figure donations to Trump’s inauguration. There are no billionaires advocating for entitlements, though, and you can’t get to 2.5 trillion without cutting them.

There’s no hope of any support from House Democrats for this approach so it would have to pass by almost a unanimous GOP vote since their majority is hair thin.

That means Congressman (Dan) Newhouse’s vote is crucial. Voters chose him over a MAGA candidate, seeming to signal a rejection of extremism. Voters who care about entitlements should let him know their feelings through emails, phone calls, personal communication and any other means possible.

Greg Carl, Richland

Biden: Make equal rights the law of the land

In the United States, women and girls are not legally guaranteed equal rights. We have seen the devastating consequences of this reality in our fights against unequal pay, workplace harassment, pregnancy discrimination, domestic violence, limited access to health care, discrimination against LGBTQIA+ individuals, and more.

As our nation braces for a rise in attacks on the liberties of women and girls, we need the only duly ratified constitutional amendment that has not been added to the Constitution: the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA rightfully became the 28th Amendment more than four years ago and will update the Constitution to provide nationwide protection against discriminatory federal and state laws.

President Biden has acknowledged its ratification but passed the buck to a polarized Congress. This political punting has precluded the ERA’s publication and has cost people their health and lives. President Biden has the power to instruct the US Archivist to certify and publish the amendment, making equal rights the law of the land.

With just weeks left in office, the League of Women Voters of Washington calls upon President Biden to pick up the phone and instruct the Archivist to finalize the ERA now.

Mr. President, your legacy is calling.

Mary Coltrane, president, League of Women Voters of Washington

This story was originally published January 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.