Evictions become a crisis

Crises like the wallop imposed by COVID-19 on the economy cry out for leadership.

In Washington, we have seen our state leaders extend the moratorium on evictions after the federal moratorium expired, but that act will lapse at the end of the month, potentially throwing thousands of people, including whole families, into homelessness.

This has become the crisis that defines our time. We can address it with true leadership, as California did when it set out recently to pay 100 percent of unpaid rent that lower-income Californians incurred during the pandemic, financed entirely by federal money.

Obviously, this kind of bold leadership must come at the state level, for not only is that where the resources needed are, but the current mayoral regime in Spokane has proven time and again that it lacks the capacity for either compassion or leadership.

Shelah Riggins

Deer Park