Sunday, October 28, 2007

Trailer Park Woes

A concerned reader asked me to find out what was happening regarding the hardship cases still left at the old Bayview Trailer Park. Several homes have been moved in the last two or three days. Some that will continue to be used, others to be salvaged. Most, but not all people that have been out of options, are gone. Some, a small number, are still there, with no place to go.

Apparently, Kootenai County has eased up slightly regarding the county rule against moving older mobile homes. This as it should be. It is legal to purchase, live in and sell a 50 year old home, as long as it is a stick built house. For some elitist reason, that doesn't apply to Mobile homes. People that live on the margins of financial society, do not have the options to move, yet, to the extent that being dependent on rental lots, they manage just fine without housing assistance. The short sighted policy of eliminating these inexpensive homes, will and has come back to haunt the county government. Bureaucratic stagnation can cause enormous personal suffering. In this case, it has. It is past time that the State of Idaho, and possible the county, look into ways to produce mobile home parks in less expensive surroundings, so that progress doesn't continue to take these people's right to survival away.

Recently, the Federal Courthouse in Coeur d'Alene was gifted , for the purpose of turning it into a homeless shelter. Wouldn't it make both humanitarian and fiscal sense to assist people before they get to the shelter state?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately hindsight is always 20/20 and the homeless situation is not addressed until after the fact.

Bill McCrory said...

The old Federal Building in Coeur d'Alene will not be turned into a homeless shelter. It will be used as St. Vincent dePaul's administrative and homeless services offices.