Uploaded: Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 5:31 pm
Time to read: about 2 minutes
Blaming the state is a deflection for not coming up with any locally controlled solutions. If Pleasanton got a blank check for development and infrastructure from the state tomorrow, strong opposition for any new housing would remain.
Local governments have had control and could come up with creative solutions for housing. It is simply a choice not to. In fact, locally controlled restrictions for housing and development have only increased and exploratory proposals are rejected. Downtown is off-limits. East Pleasanton is off-limits. Single-family neighborhoods are off-limits. Any solution is a no even before coming to a vote.
Minister to look at housing availability for refugees
Updated / Wednesday, 5 May 2021
19:52
Social Affairs & Religion Correspondent
The Minister with responsibility for ending direct provision will meet with city and county managers this week, to discuss the availability of services for international protection applicants.
As part of the plan to end the system, local authorities will play a role in locating housing which Minister Roderic O Gorman s Department aims to start buying and repurposing this year.
Under the International Protection Support Service announced earlier this year, people who are applying for protection will be helped to integrate into Ireland from day one, with health, housing, education, and employment supports at the core of the system.
An assembly line of double-masked volunteers gathered recently in Hackensack to stuff cookies, apples and water bottles into plastic grocery bags, knot them and add them to a growing pile of meals. The only sign the room used to house the homeless was a lone bunk bed and cot pushed against the wall.
The Bergen County Housing, Health and Human Services Center had operated a homeless shelter in this space since 2009, with 90 beds and room to accommodate 15 more people in the winter months.
But on April 15, 2020, leaders closed the shelter after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
So many people living in proximity to each other would have made the shelter a potential breeding ground for the rapidly spreading virus, so the county transported residents to four nearby motels, contracting with Christ Church Community Development Corporation.