I am a single person teaching at the Flathead Valley Community College. My landlord informed me that my rent is going to increase by 20% in December and it puts my budget at a breaking point. My wages have not gone up by 20%. Many hard-working working-class families are facing the same predicament. College students, seniors, and others are facing the same problem. Even if you can buy a house at today’s prices, you will be in debt for decades, maybe even your whole lifetime.
What are you going to do about this? Are you going to stand up to the governor and roll back the housing protections/zoning that he outlawed? Are you going to create homeless centers for the middle and low-class working families that will go homeless? Are you going to do nothing and wait until the situation gets so bad there will be rioting, looting, and vigilante justice? As we have seen on Jan. 6, people are frustrated, and making people homeless only adds fuel to the situation if not the spark to ignite a violent uprising.
I would hope the city government looks past greed and bad political policy; and focuses on what is right for all citizens including the working class.
James Goudy
Kalispell