Noticing more panhandlers and property crime in your residential Bellevue neighborhood? We all want to help the homeless population find shelter, but local homeless advocates are making irresponsible decisions, placing shelters in quiet residential communities when they should be in urban, transit-friendly locations near the agencies that provide homeless services.

The winter shelter last year in residential Lochmoor was a case in point. People from far outside of Bellevue were attracted to it, drinking and loitering in the evening on their way through the neighborhood to the shelter. Its homeless tenants burglarized numerous homes and harassed residents waiting for school and city buses on the sidewalks nearby. The Crossroads mall area businesses reported significant spikes in crime. Organizers from the city, CCS, and the church all agreed that this kind of residential location was a poor place for a shelter for homeless people who often have addiction issues, but this year new management ignored the neighborhood concerns and will house a winter shelter at the church again.

Asking homeless people to take transit to locations which are outside of the main urban bus routes and have few local services available nearby for them is a recipe for disaster. We can provide care for the homeless, but we should be providing even greater care for the local residents whose neighbors have been burglarized and harassed. The City of Bellevue needs to take a bigger lead on managing where homeless shelters are located, and provide Bellevue residents the safety that we pay handsomely for.

Sam DeBord, Bellevue