Editor,

Recently, an article appeared in the Whidbey News-Times regarding the homeless situation in Island County, and Oak Harbor specifically.

I have a couple ideas or options that will address the situation.

Option 1: The county should look at ways to provide funds for housing. HUD just doesn’t seem to have the ability to deal with the situation on their own. If this requires a tax increase — so be it. But, any help in this area should come with a policy to eliminate panhandling. This makes the city of Oak Harbor, and in general, Whidbey Island, look trashy. But, instead of punishing the panhandlers, the city or county should adopt a policy similar to what Brookings, Ore.,  did. They made it an illegal transaction to provide money to someone else on the street. So the person giving the money is the one committing the infraction.

We all know how good-hearted most folks are and it’s hard to say no to someone who looks down on their luck. But if folks knew it was an infraction to provide money it takes the onus off the person giving the money.

Now, when asked they can just say, “I’m sorry, I’d love to give you something, but it is illegal to do that in this city/county. God bless.”

No more guilt.

Now, you can’t have solutions to problems without another option.

Option 2: Vote for Donald Trump. OK — hang on, this will follow to a logical conclusion. Trump has said one option to deal with the national debt is to just default on it. This will no doubt have severe financial repercussions and force the nation into a recession or worse, depression. This will cause a severe draw down in domestic spending, including the military.

The U.S. Navy would then be looking at closing bases, including NAS Whidbey.

And if that happened …

There will be plenty of vacant shelter in and around Oak Harbor for the homeless.

Thomas Kosloske

Oak Harbor