Anti-homeless effort runs into neighbor opposition in Moorhead

In Moorhead, WDAY reports, neighbors are aghast at a proposal
for a 41-unit apartment complex, sponsored by a group of area churches and intended to help those who are homeless.

“We can’t be too self righteous,” resident Bill Beatler told the Moorhead City Council yesterday, just before it declined to take a vote on a resolution supporting the application of a grant to help the project along.

“The type of people that they attract with this type of activity causes concern for me and my family and where I can raise my daughters,” countered Corby Nelson, a neighbor of the proposed complex. He’s a Clay County sheriff’s deputy.

“I don’t think we should assume people who have had a hard time and who have done maybe not all the right things, are not going to be good neighbors,” Jane Alexander, of Churches United, responded. “They will be. We’re going to help them be good neighbors.”

In Montreal, meanwhile, they’ve got an answer for the homeless. These:

Photo: Le Devoir

The metal spikes were installed adjacent to the sidewalk in front of a music and book store.

“It’s a disgrace. This is not the kind of society I want to live in,” Mayor Denis Coderre said.

But it’s the kind of society he does.