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Letter: Tree loss not good exchange for temporary cabins

I write with dismay at loss of many trees on the Trunk Road site of cabin housing for the homeless
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Tree loss not good exchange for temporary cabins

Dear Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples and councillors:

I write with dismay at the loss of many trees on the Trunk Road site of cabin housing for the homeless.

Despite the city having an admirable tree-protection bylaw, Duncan council apparently saw fit to allow the sacrificing of irreplaceable trees to accommodate temporary housing for local homeless folks.

I fully support helping less fortunate folks, but surely mature tree loss logically takes precedence over additional, bland temporary housing.

Decades of local foot-dragging, talk, studies and ineffective solutions to our swelling homelessness crisis have sadly spawned a reactive, not proactive, answer to this complex, swelling situation. It affects taxpayers, city staff, police, volunteer agencies, medical workers, our environment — and, of course, homeless people themselves.

The long-term answer should not be more, nor larger, metal-cabin compounds.

I now urge council to consult the homeless, social workers, other councils, business leaders, the province, Ottawa — plus foreign government agencies if necessary — toward cogently workable, permanent solutions to such tragic homelessness without more tree loss.

Yours in smart housing solutions and ecology,

Peter W. Rusland

North Cowichan