There is a crisis in affordable housing that we all agree on. There are numerous unhoused, homeless, mentally ill people and addicts in our communities. No matter of all combined efforts, there will always be people in those situations.

Now that the county has taken ownership of finding an appropriate site for a camp for unhoused people, it would be a good time to examine some different options.

I am assuming the county has access to more land and revenue than the city, so my suggestion is to create a campus to house and provide services. Relocate Manna to the site. Relocate some mental health services there and establish weekly drop-in hours. Same with a physical health clinic. Provide sanitation facilities.

Add a pole shelter for a community kitchen; 60 tent pads for sleeping; a mailbox drop box for each of those sites.

It may be more expensive. It may become too attractive or inviting to transients. No one may want to use it and will revert to camping in unauthorized areas.

What I’m pretty sure of is that if the county doesn’t try something different than what has been tried before, we’ll all have the same complaints

Sherm Beye

Bayfield