This Ought to Be Amusing

The Affordable Housing Forum and Resource Fair on Saturday, sponsored by the Moscow Human Rights Commission and the Fair Housing Commission, promises to be a hoot, judging from letter to the editor in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News from the chairman of the Human Rights Commission:

As the planners began to develop the forum, many spinout themes became apparent. Things like a living wage, disparity of wealth and poverty, and the power voices in our community who are heard when it comes to questions of land use planning, zoning, and development, and the corresponding weaker voices, who are not heard because of their apparent lack of economic clout or inability to generate profits and votes. It was a challenge to keep a human rights focus.

No doubt, my difficulty is the “fix” we have in our society that someone’s shelter must be for the profit of another. I think it is shameful that hard working men and women just can’t pull ahead enough to have a home, or even to rent a sufficient dwelling for themselves and their children. The challenge is to address economic disparity and put folks in touch with resources that can help them own a home or improve their dwelling.

...

The fair will expose programs that can assist. While certainly helpful, they are, in my view, pitifully inadequate, and none address the fact that housing is not a luxury; it is a basic human right. No one should have to worry about whether or not they can have a home.