Vancouver Mayoral candidate Justin Forsman says homelessness will only be solved by ‘leadership that understands the connection between addiction, accountability, and opportunity’

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

Vancouver is in the middle of a humanitarian and civic crisis. Every day we see tents lining our streets, needles in our parks, and broken lives scattered across sidewalks. What was once a temporary issue has now become a full-scale collapse of leadership, accountability, and compassion. It is not heartless to demand change. It is heartless to watch people die slowly while pretending that things will fix themselves.

I believe the time has come for Vancouver to declare an official public-health emergency for fentanyl and methamphetamine. These drugs are destroying our families, overwhelming emergency responders, and driving much of the homelessness that is tearing at the fabric of our community. Declaring a public-health crisis is not symbolic. It would allow our city and county to coordinate treatment, enforcement, and funding in a unified response that treats addiction as a medical condition while still holding people accountable.

As mayor, I will push to reopen the former Larch Mountain Correctional Facility as a secure drug-rehabilitation and reintegration campus. This facility, once used for incarceration, can become a place of transformation. Instead of locking people away and releasing them back to the same streets, we will bring them in under court-ordered treatment programs. Those arrested for possession or public use will not go to jail to sit idle. They will go to treatment to rebuild their lives.

At Larch Mountain, we can partner with nonprofits, recovery experts, and faith-based organizations to create a comprehensive recovery program. Medical detox, mental-health counseling, life-skills training, and structured therapy can replace the revolving door of arrest and release. Participants can earn their way through phases of accountability, treatment, education, and trade certification. Each person who graduates should leave not just sober, but ready for a career, with a path forward that restores dignity, purpose, and self-reliance.

Rehabilitation alone is not enough. We need reintegration. That means connecting people directly with trade organizations and apprenticeship programs before they reenter society. Vancouver has a strong network of local unions and training centers that are always looking for willing workers. I envision partnerships with groups like the electrical, plumbing, and carpentry trades, Clark College, and workforce-development programs. Together, they can help people earn certifications and employment referrals.

We can take this a step further. Many of these same trade programs could donate time, equipment, or mentorship to help rebuild and modernize the Larch facility itself. The people in treatment could work alongside professionals to restore dorms, kitchens, and training rooms. The process of rebuilding the facility becomes part of rebuilding lives. It would teach discipline, teamwork, and pride while reducing project costs for taxpayers.

To make this vision a reality, we can partner directly with the Washington State Department of Corrections through an interlocal agreement. The DOC already has the legal authority and infrastructure to operate facilities for treatment and reentry, and they can collaborate with the city and county to place individuals into programs instead of jail. This partnership would allow those facing drug or illegal-camping offenses to enter structured treatment under DOC supervision rather than continue cycling through citations, arrest, and release. It would also allow the city to access existing state and federal resources for behavioral-health diversion, workforce reentry, and facility restoration. In short, the DOC can provide oversight and security, while local nonprofits deliver the recovery services and job training that lead people back to productive lives.

Now is the right time to act because the funding already exists. Washington State has secured over 476 million dollars from national opioid settlements with pharmaceutical distributors. Half of that money goes directly to counties and cities for opioid abatement. Clark County and Vancouver already receive their share, and those funds are meant for exactly this type of project: rehabilitation, treatment, workforce reintegration, and recovery services. By declaring a public-health crisis, we can prioritize that funding and direct it toward reopening Larch Mountain as a therapeutic treatment center. This means the people of Vancouver can take bold action without raising taxes or creating new bureaucracy. The resources are there. We simply need leadership willing to use them for real solutions instead of short-term fixes.

When combined with the city’s new bridge-shelter project, which will provide roughly 120 beds for transitional housing, the reopening of Larch Mountain could stabilize more than 350 people at a time. With program turnover every few months, hundreds could move from addiction or homelessness into recovery and employment each year. Together, these facilities would help reduce visible homelessness by roughly one-third in the first year alone, proving that with strong leadership and coordination, we can make a measurable impact.

If Vancouver leads this initiative, we can become a pilot city that shows the rest of Washington how to transform addiction and homelessness into recovery and opportunity. Other communities will be able to follow our example, turning idle facilities into centers of healing and reintegration.

This is what real leadership looks like. It is not a plan to normalize addiction or enable destructive behavior. It is a plan to save lives, protect neighborhoods, and restore hope. It combines public safety, compassion, and fiscal responsibility. It gives police and courts a clear path to divert people into treatment instead of endless booking and release cycles. It relieves the burden on emergency services while offering our citizens a way back.

Homelessness will not be solved by tents, tolerance, or tax hikes. It will be solved by leadership that understands the connection between addiction, accountability, and opportunity. Vancouver deserves a mayor who will take bold action, face this crisis head-on, and unite public and private partners to get the job done.

If we can turn a decommissioned prison into a place of healing, work, and renewal, then we can prove that every life is worth saving and every community can recover.

Vote Justin Forsman for Mayor of Vancouver. Together we can rebuild lives, restore safety, and reclaim our city’s future.

Justin Forsman
Vancouver mayoral candidate

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