“Let Us Help”: Fixing the Homelessness Crisis by Getting Government Out of the Way

By Antony Barran

We all know the problem. From Vancouver to Aberdeen, Longview to Ilwaco, homelessness is no longer confined to big cities or dark corners. It's on our main streets, near our schools, next to our parks—and it’s growing. In Washington’s 3rd District, we’ve watched as encampments multiply, addiction spirals, and the same tired excuses get recycled year after year. Politicians point fingers. Bureaucrats form task forces. But very little changes on the ground.

Here’s the truth: We don’t have a shortage of compassion. We have a shortage of common sense.

The Willing Are Being Blocked

Across our region, churches, nonprofits, and private citizens have tried to step up. They’ve raised money. Donated land. Offered meals, shelter, training, even tiny homes. But instead of support, they’ve been met with a wall of government interference.

In Olympia, a faith-based tiny home village was nearly shut down over fire codes—even though the homes had working heat and electricity and were saving lives. In Seattle, volunteers handing out sandwiches in a public park were fined for not having a food permit. In Burien, churches offering safe overnight parking for homeless families were threatened with code violations. Meanwhile, larger charities that require sobriety, work participation, or spiritual support are quietly excluded from government funding because they don't align with “Housing First” dogma.

The message? If you’re not doing it the government’s way, you’re not allowed to help.

We are witnessing the slow suffocation of goodwill. Bureaucracy is being prioritized over results. And the people who suffer most are those already on the margins.

So What Should a Member of Congress Do?

They should do what any good business leader would do: get the blockers out of the way.

Here’s how:

1. Tie federal housing funds to zoning reform.
   Local governments that choke private and faith-based solutions with zoning rules should not get federal dollars until they cut the red tape.

2. Expand legal protections for charitable housing efforts.
   Strengthen laws like the Religious Land Use Act to include nonprofits and transitional housing—even when it doesn’t fit government orthodoxy.

3. Kill the federal rules that don’t make sense.
   Like the chassis rule that makes manufactured housing more expensive than it needs to be. Reform federal construction standards so affordable means actually affordable.

4. Fund innovation, not ideology.
   Stop handing out money only to organizations that follow the same failed formula. Create competitive grant programs for innovative private-sector and charity-led solutions—even if they don’t fit the government mold.

5. Enact a Homeless Bill of Rights.
   Make it clear that feeding people, housing people, and helping people should never be illegal. Period.

This Isn’t About Left or Right. It’s About Right and Wrong.

I don’t care if a good idea comes from a church, a nonprofit, or a guy with a pickup truck and a stack of lumber. If it helps people get off the street and back on their feet, we should encourage it, not block it.

This is why I’m running for Congress. Because I’m tired of watching good people trying to do good work get buried in red tape, permits, and delays. We deserve better than a government that thinks control is more important than compassion. We need a government that asks one simple question:

Is it working?

And if the answer is yes, let them help.

Let’s fix this. Together.

—
Antony Barran
Entrepreneur. Oyster Farmer. Candidate for Congress.
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