I’m responding to Ethan Horton’s July 6 story, “To address its problem, Augusta arrests homeless people. It’s not working.” The article states: “Landlords often use criminal records screening to deny housing applications for an otherwise qualified applicant, and employers can consider criminal records when making a final decision.”

When people increase the supply of both apartments and jobs, the demand for them decreases. The more the demand decreases, the lower the costs of renting an apartment becomes — and the lower the barriers for getting an apartment or job becomes. We want so many entry-level jobs that if a person loses a job they can get another one within a week, even if they have a poor work history. We want so many apartments that if someone gets evicted, they can get another cheap one within a month.

Augusta doesn’t need a homeless task force as much as it needs more staff at the Department of Economic Development at City Hall. It’s not that difficult.

Currently, there are people renting a room for the same price as an apartment. If more apartment buildings were constructed, more people could transfer from renting a room to renting an apartment. Then, when the rooms for rent empty out, continue building new apartment units until at least the monthly rental costs for a room decrease by about half of what it is today. Because a room should not cost close to $1,000 a month to rent.

Douglas Papa
Augusta