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At least now we know where they stand.

With Vice Mayor Brent Weaver sounding like he was making a campaign speech for higher office ("I don't want to see us grow government here") and Councilwoman Francie Sullivan putting the comfort of the city's staff above the welfare of its citizens, Redding's top elected body dropped the possibility of a housing first pilot program and nearly walked away entirely from trying to seek solutions to the homeless problem.

In the end, after a bit of high-stakes whispering between Councilman Gary Cadd and Councilwoman Kristen Schreder, the body managed to break 3-2 in favor of a tepid statement essentially saying they're still kind of interested in the issue plaguing their streets and business community and leaving their most vulnerable citizens to camp illegally and despoil public lands.

We understand Cadd's position, even if we don't fully agree with it. Cadd was unwilling to support the housing first concept in any way, because he objects on principle to providing homes with no strings attached -- meaning, for example, that an addict wouldn't have to get clean before moving in. There is strong evidence that housing first gets more people clean than the alternatives, but we can respect Cadd's conviction.

And he can be modestly applauded for casting his vote, with Schreder and Mayor Missy McArthur, to at least keep the city at the table for further discussions of homeless solutions.

Weaver and Sullivan were another matter.

Although their approaches varied, the bottom line was the same. Neither is willing to see the city pushed outside its comfort zone on this issue. Both seem to believe the staff has better things to do.

Candidate Weaver, who a couple of years ago launched his campaign in neighborhoods and pledged to address the city's problems as quality of life issues, did not show up for Tuesday's meeting. Whoever did looked just like him but talked as if the city operates for no purpose but to organize the efforts of cops, firefighters and road maintenance crews.

"I think government exists to offer basic services," Weaver said. "Water, sewer, roads, police, fire. Government is a more expensive way to solve many of the (problems) that are out there."

We agree it's expensive, but the vision of the city as a bland apparatus of infrastructure isn't one we share. We don't expect City Hall to do everything. But we do expect leadership.

To be clear, there are legitimate arguments to be made against housing first as a strategy, and against the idea of rushing to meet a July 1 deadline that is, to be fair, artificial.

We've supported both, but we understand the concerns that it has to be done right -- that placing the toughest chronically homeless addicts into random privately owned apartments with no on-site supervision could be disastrous.

Weaver's stories of bad tenants in his apartments painted a grim picture of such a scenario, although by conflating them with housing first he erected and burned what critical thinking textbooks call a "straw man."

Sullivan, as usual, lamented that "we have staff that's pretty stretched." It's time to put that to rest. It is a barricade, and it's the only thing Sullivan seems to see when she looks at an issue.

Schreder has shown real leadership. But she can't go it alone.