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ROTHENBURGER: There’s a proven alternative to warehousing the homeless
‘HOMELESSNESS IS CAUSED by poverty, so we have to tackle poverty by creating more housing.
Once we get everybody housed, the crime-addictions-mental illness situation on our streets will resolve itself.’
That’s a common logic used as cities across the continent struggle with the same issue, and Kamloops is no different. How often have we heard that a) it’s a myth that providing services attracts more homelessness and b) building more supportive housing is the answer.
The first argument — that homelessness is a home-grown issue, not an imported one — has yet to be proven. I’ve yet to see evidence that the homelessness problem here results from Kamloops residents losing their jobs and their homes and ending up on the street.