I am writing in response to the Jan. 6 article’s portrayal of the residents of the Sunbelt Apartments (“Police probe woman’s death in Sequim apartment,” PDN).
I live in those apartments and found the words to describe myself and my neighbors to be unnecessary and demeaning.
I am not only speaking for myself; I have several neighbors who felt belittled, as well.
Yes, one of the criteria for living here is to have been “chronically homeless” — ugh, labels.
In my personal case, I was living without hot water before moving here.
That was enough to put me in the homeless category.
I cannot and would not speak to why my neighbors qualified.
We are a wonderful and caring group of people who have built a community under one roof.
We care for each other, look out for each other and do normal neighbor things, like borrowing sugar and eggs and decorating for the holidays.
Some say not to take the above mentioned article personally or “Who cares what others think?”
Well, we care.
We are contributing members of society who have been given the opportunity to create a life for ourselves and you know what?
We are doing a great job of it.
We have lost one of our own who brought joy to our lives and in the midst of our grieving, the words used to describe us stopped us in our tracks.
It felt like a plug for what housing is doing for “our type.”
We have called ourselves “The Island of Misfit Toys” and we are great.
Rebecca Ruby,
Sequim