City Council leader: Raleigh has a homeless crisis and must find a fix

Homeless crisis

Raleigh has a homeless crisis. According to the McKinney-Vento Act definition for homelessness, in 2018 there were 4,365 children in Wake County classified as homeless — a 100% increase over 2014. Many, if not most, live in Raleigh. (2019 numbers aren’t available yet.) Most are in families that earn less than $30,000 a year.

I visited one of the largest shelters for homeless women and children in Raleigh on March 2. They’re at capacity with 110 residents. All of our shelters combined are unable to handle the growing numbers. We have a crisis and need to now give it our full attention.

What we need are 1,500 to 2,000 housing units to house these families. We also need services to help them stand on their own – education, training, counseling, drug rehabilitation and ultimately jobs. It’s not an insurmountable problem. Let’s work together to meet this need.

David Cox

Raleigh City Council member

Require detectors

Regarding “Hundreds were evacuated in Durham. Why HUD still doesn’t require carbon monoxide detectors,” (March 5):

Since 2009 North Carolina General Statute Chapter 42 Article 42 paragraph 7 has required landlords to provide working carbon monoxide alarms in every rental dwelling equipped with a fuel burning appliance or an attached garage. Public housing authorities are landlords who own and operate residential dwelling units. We should demand that every public housing agency comply with the law. That housing authorities are subsidized by HUD is irrelevant.

David Lipton, Raleigh

Mark Meadows

Regarding “Trump names Rep. Mark Meadows his new chief of staff,” (March 6):

Mark Meadows is in and Mick Mulvaney is out. One sycophant for another. No big difference there. Let’s just hope that Meadows is as candid with us about Donald Trump’s crimes as Mulvaney was.

Robert T. Adams, Cary

Early voting

Regarding “Primary results show why early voting is a bad idea,” (March 8 Opinion):

Jonah Goldberg contends that if you make it easier to vote, the quality of the voter goes down. He says when voting is easier, “more people vote who are less engaged in politics.” Is he suggesting we should have a test to ensure that everyone who voted is “engaged in politics?” Many people tend to vote early to avoid schedule conflicts or because of the potential for long lines on Election Day.

He says people who vote early may vote for a candidate who drops out before Election Day. That’s only an issue during primaries.

The value of early voting is outweighed by the possibility that a very small percentage of voters may vote for a candidate who drops out.

Gary Benson, Youngsville

Coronavirus

Regarding Our View “Coronavirus reveals an uneasy truth,” (March 8 Editorial)

We all suffer when our policies fail to assure the health and well-being of all, including the “least of us.” Some folks in our state and national leadership forget that immigrants, documented or not, are our neighbors. They live in our cities and towns, shop in the same stores we do, work on our farms and in our restaurants and other service establishments: taking care of them is taking care of ourselves. In the 19th century they used to call this “enlightened self-interest.”

There is nothing like the threat of a global pandemic to remind us that we are all connected. It is not generosity — or socialism — but our own self-interest to assure that the policies and practices enacted by our businesses and our elected leaders are designed to protect us by assuring the health and well-being of all of us.

Sondra Stein, Durham

White House chaos

As an independent voter and older person, I was well aware of the untruthful nature of the president. Thomas Wells, an attorney who worked with him said before the 2016 election: “Donald Trump lies everyday even about things of no consequence.” Yet, what has surprised me most is what conservative pundit David Brooks described about the Trump White House, calling it “equal parts chaos and incompetence.”

Valuing loyalty over competence, preferring a chaotic management style, and a disdain for planning ahead have consistently left his staff, Congress and our country in a lurch. The coronavirus lack of preparation and firing the global pandemic team last year is par for the course.

Keith Wilson, Charlotte

Capitalism

Regarding “Fear Mongering,” (March 5 Forum):

In retail sales, companies like to use the words “new and improved” to sell their product. If you think for a moment that the United States will get it right after 100 years of failed socialist policies, you are gravely mistaken. Capitalism is still the best economic system in the world, despite its flaws.

Michael Whittingham, Roxboro