Letter to the Editor

I would like to address some inaccuracies in Craig Shirley’s LTE last week. His letter is full of assumptions about the Essex Point project. Not only that, but his generalization of the type of people who live in apartments shows a gross inability to understand that not everyone lives on a historic plantation and has gobs of money. How narrow-minded and privileged can one man be?

• Essex Point is not a Section 8 project. Individuals that qualify for subsidized housing will not qualify for these housing units. There will be qualification criteria: income, criminal, rental history, credit history, etc. They are not receiving rental subsidy which is Section 8.

• Housing such as that in the proposed project will benefit our middle income community. Our teachers, nurses, and other skilled workers will be able to qualify for the apartments. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but we are in a crisis when it comes to finding homes for the people in this bracket. A prime example is the situation in our schools. Teachers can’t come here to work because they can’t find any place to live. Our hospitals and businesses are woefully understaffed and that is also due to the lack of housing.

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