Editor’s note: Though some of the comments in the following column are in quotes, with the exception of “neighborhood character”, they are not direct quotes from the guest column this piece is a reaction to.

It is sad and frustrating that in the middle of an acute housing shortage Bendites living in expensive neighborhoods feel entitled to complain about new housing in their backyard. Larry Crosby and Greg Franklin’s recent guest column about the proposed West View development on Awbrey Butte is the latest case in point.

The complaints follow familiar similar arcs: “unleash traffic”; “neighborhood character”; “chainsaw clear cuts”; “we’re not against other developments, just this one” (which happens to be in our backyard).

These arguments and complaints are hypocritical. These neighbors themselves have been creating car traffic on steep streets that are quiet (and still will be after this is built). They are perfectly happy with multi-million dollar single family houses but not $1 million townhouses. “This proposal won’t build cheap housing and thus won’t solve the affordability crisis”, followed by “this housing will be cheaper than the surrounding houses so we can’t have that either.” And the trees: this conveniently ignores that when their single-family homes were built, trees were cut. In fact most of the trees on Awbrey Butte are not very old having popped up after the development of the butte over the past 60 years.

Are traffic and trees really more important than human beings seeking housing? No.

One final argument they are also considering is requiring the city to follow its rules about complete street designs. This development as proposed would, because of the topography of the butte, be a cul-de-sac. Cul-de-sacs are something the city tries to avoid, and for good reasons. But the neighbors who are weaponizing the cul-de-sac argument live on the more than one dozen cul-de-sacs within a very short distance of this proposed project. These cul-de-sacs were put in because of . . . topography.

To complain about housing in your neighborhood (and mine) that does basically the same thing that the building of your home did is peak entitlement. Being against the development because it doesn’t exactly mirror what is currently there, despite the law allowing such development, only compounds the cost of building and the shortage of housing.

Our community is on the cusp of an economic and humanitarian crisis caused by failure to build enough housing to meet demands over the past several decades. The housing shortage and the attendant price increases are threatening to bring large portions of our economy to a halt. Right now most employers struggle to find workers at all skill and pay levels. Many of them report that prospects for even the most highly compensated positions are rejecting offers simply because our housing is not affordable. It is a serious problem when CNAs, support staff, janitors and retail workers cannot afford to live here. It is a larger problem when doctors and attorneys are saying the same. When the only people who can afford to live here are moving from places that are even more expensive, who have no student debt or children to raise, we will become a town for wealthier, older people only. Then we will wonder who is going to treat our illnesses, serve us our restaurant dinners, and maintain our beautiful parks.

The simplest and fastest way for us to solve our housing crisis is to build more housing of all types and sizes. And we need to do it all over the city. Even the areas of expensive single family homes on Awbrey Butte. That some say “my neighbors don’t want those sorts of neighbors in those sorts of houses” isn’t a valid reason not to be doing that.

Do you have a point you’d like to make or an issue you feel strongly about? Submit a letter to the editor or a guest column.