Good read

It is rare we find ourselves in agreement with a column about how to address Anchorage’s thorny homelessness problem, but it happens.

A piece by Paul Fuhs, headlined “Let’s get real about Anchorage homelessness” and appearing in MustReadAlaska.com, hits it out of the park.

Fuhs, former Mayor of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor and Commerce commissioner for Gov. Wally Hickel, writes:

“The issue has received a lot of attention lately. Rightly so. Across a wide spectrum of Anchorage residents, people have had enough of what they are seeing on our streets. Yet, the way homelessness is being discussed and written about will not result in turning back the degradation of our communities.”

He is absolutely right. In great detail, he takes a hard look at the city’s woes and concludes:

“So yes, there are solutions, but someone has to do something about it. What we are doing now is not compassionate. Free food, free housing, free medical, free Obama-phone, free everything so that they can put every single penny into the bottle: Is this helping them or is it a form of assisted suicide?

His piece is enlightening and certainly worth reading.