Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian's editor emeritus. His column of personal opinion appears the first Saturday of every month. Reach him at lounews1@gmail.com. Photo

Just how wackadoodle is this city idea of moving its homeless problem to Hazel Dell?

Pretty dang wackadoodle, in my view.

OK, wackadoodle is too strong a term. But at the very least, it’s strange. And it will be a challenge.

If you’re paying attention, homelessness is very real and needs to be addressed. And it’s just not a problem for the homeless. It’s a problem for our communities and for society as a whole.

To back up a bit, Vancouver asked city voters in November for extra cash to help alleviate the city’s homeless problem. It passed. The money was targeted for certain things like rental assistance, other services and — yes — homeless shelters.

So far, so good, right?

But then something strange happened. A proposal was presented to the city council that went something like this: