HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-2017 - Manuele (2)I
COUNCIL MEETING: - I- FEB 17 2017
ITEM NO.: itt'P
From: Brandon Manuele[
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2017 6:15 PM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil2slocity.or >
Subject: "Housing Issue"
Hello everyone,
I hope it's not too late to get a word in before tonight. With a restaurant and two little ones, I'm not
going to make it to the Vet's Hall this eve. Thank you all for your service to our community!
I wanted to respond to the request for feedback about what can be done with regards to safe
housing in slo. I may be naive about this issue, so I have to ask. Is it truly an issue? Are people
being hospitalized in San Luis due to poor housing? If so then there is definitely something that
needs to be addressed. I would want to look at where the injuries are stemming from. Broken
windows? Faulty staircases or the collapse of structures themselves? Mold? Exposure due to lack of
heating? My guess is that though these are serious problems to have, they really don't occur
regularly enough to have a situation that requires the sort of involvement that we now have.
Personally, I tend to take the approach of social and personal responsibility over government
enforcement. Especially when the solution is found in education and self -empowerment. It is
amazing what humans will accept if they do not know anything different. I'm going to use an
example about what I have learned from the Lifewater Organization. They discover isolated
communities all the time in African countries that have no concept of sanitation or disease
spreading. It was lost somewhere along the line of generational inheritance of knowledge and life
skills. It's easy to trace this particular situation to a history of war and displacement, but I see a
similar loss of practical knowledge and responsibility in our culture today. The passing of laws and
regulations by government entities does not solve this type of issue, in fact it further enables the
sort of mindset that created it. Parents know this, go down the road of doing everything for your
child and eventually that child will be an adult living in your basement.
The fact that our community's leaders are having to address safe housing in the first world, for fully
competent free people is a little troubling to me and points to a greater issue in our society. I know
this was not the type of response you were looking for. I too would love to come up with some
simple steps for the city to implement and move on but I just don't see the city solving the real
problem here.
To give a practical answer, this is how the housing issue should be addressed. If a tenant has a
concern or safety issue with their housing they should bring it to the property management
company or landlord. If that fails to produce results or even acknowledgment then the tenant should
bring a complaint to the city. We already have in place all of the code and staff to enforce it. Can
we move on?
Thank you, Brandon Manuele
Sally Loo's Wholesome Cafe
San Luis Obispo
CA,
(