Failure to plan in advance on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

A sign posted in many government offices.

The dual problem of homelessness and an affordable housing shortage is real-especially in King County.

Conservatives and liberals alike can agree on this.

In fact, many of us are not far removed from a personal housing crisis should circumstances change abruptly in our lives.

Where conservatives part ways with liberals is not in compassion for these poor among us, but in how to solve the problem logically and effectively.

The traditional liberal response is to spend, with limited accountability, ever-increasing amounts of taxpayer dollars on the homeless and low-income housing-along with other problems their feckless spending too often makes worse rather than better.

Conservatives look first to market solutions that, when given the opportunity to work, help generate jobs that enable more low-income people to afford homes.

These solutions include making housing more affordable by streamlining the permitting process, easing burdensome building regulations, and reducing property taxes and mitigation fees.

Tax breaks and other incentives can encourage property owners to keep affordable apartments in good neighborhoods open, rather than converting them into higher-priced condominiums.

Ironically, while Seattle wants Burien to keep the "affordable" Lora Lake Apartments, that city does nothing to halt this housing transition.

Liberals, who trust the state far more than individuals, are not inclined to give market solutions a chance.

They downplay what the private sector-which, unlike government, generates tax revenue-can do. That is a primary factor in the current Lora Lake controversy.

And this raises a glaring question: Why have homelessness and the affordable housing shortage gotten worse in King County in recent years?

This, after all, is one of most left-leaning areas in the nation, dominated by a liberal King County executive and council, a liberal Seattle mayor and council, and a liberal governor and Legislature.

The Highline area is represented in both Olympia and King County by some of the most notorious "nanny-staters" in Washington.

A logical answer is that the vice-like grip of liberalism on this region makes matters worse, not better.

And that liberals' tax-and-spend solutions drain individual initiative just as they deplete taxpayer's wallets.

During last week's Seattle Port Commission meeting on the fate of Lora Lake, those who asked that the apartments ignored well-thought-out plans for long-term economic development in Burien that can benefit the entire community.

They called instead for compromise-a word that rightly makes conservatives cringe, because to liberals a compromise exists only when things are done their way.

To them, compromise is about power, not practical solutions, as the Lora Lake controversy makes crystal clear.

Another intriguing aspect of the rhetoric at the Port commission meeting was the testimony of homeless people who said they would move into Lora Lake if they could-yet not a single homeless advocate said they would make it so should the apartments be reopened.

Had the King County Housing Authority pleaded well in advance with the Port and the city to keep the apartments open, especially after the Northeast Redevelopment Area was established several years ago, their present demands might hold some credibility.

But no emergency was declared until what appears to have been a profit-making "cash cow" for a non-profit public agency was on the brink of closure and demolition.

Burien Planning Commissioner Jim Clingan was spot-on when he told Port commissioners that Lora Lake has become an opportunity for political grandstanding.

As this latest liberal misadventure unfolds, it is the taxpayers, private businesses and, yes, the homeless who pay for the charade.

BURIEN CITY Council candidate Stephen Lamphear appeared last week to lack pride in his service as a councilman from 2000 to 2006.

Addressing the Seattle Port Commission, Mr. Lamphear introduced himself as a gardener and a former member of a regional coalition to end homelessness-but not as a former Burien lawmaker.

He proceeded to encourage Port commissioners to consider more offers before voting to demolish the Lora Lake Apartments.

But Mr. Lamphear neglected to note his participation on previous councils that revised the city's land-use policies to encourage commercial development of this property.

The views of Ralph Nichols are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at ralphn@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1857.