Henry Ford observed, “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than trying to solve them.”
Homelessness is a problem. It is a complicated problem. The Homeless – seniors, adults, men and women, students, children, without brick-and-mortar homes – often are seen as dirty, scary, drug-laden, unsafe, and certainly not belonging. And when we are honest, homeless folks are seen as “less than” because we attribute their plight to a lack of character that keeps them from becoming responsible citizens i.e., living like the rest of us live.
Explanations abound for why communities have this homeless problem. Whether one believes the root cause of homelessness is veterans not getting proper care, inadequate social services to help folks on the fringes, lack of affordable housing, abject poverty, or drug and alcohol abuse, the “go to” response is the same – criminalize behaviors the homeless utilize to survive on the street and that will solve the problem. Such response has not, will not and cannot solve the problem. Don’t be tricked.
Criminalizing all aspects of behavior required to “live,” as it were, on the streets without shelter, food, a place to rest or access to mental health services side-steps the problem. We should not be fooled into thinking these laws shape a workable, sustainable plan to effectively address how to help one of the most defenseless and marginalized group of citizens in our communities.
Criminalization responses to homelessness have been around for years and the data unmistakably show we still have a growing homeless population and as much as we wish these citizens to be invisible they are not – and no laws can make them invisible.
The homeless problem clearly has not gone away nor have our elected officials focused on solutions. Instead, for example, three cities in Colorado – Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs – alone have passed 37 ordinances criminalizing a variety of homeless behaviors. My favorite is outlawing “junk.” Please. Really. Don’t believe me, look it up.
Durango is the most recent Colorado city to pass its version of criminalizing ordinances.
One line of thought behind criminalization efforts sounds something like this: Civil societies need rules and the most basic of these rules include where people can eat, sleep and take care of their bodily functions. If not for adherence to such fundamental rules, no society could exist.
Of course, societies need rules. Of course, chaos would ensue if such basic norms did not guide behavior. It is doubtful anyone seriously disagrees with that premise and such proclamations do nothing to advance thoughtful conversations focused on finding viable solutions to reduce our homeless population; they simply create other non-solutions – jailing the homeless or moving them on.
To where? Then what?
Sorting out sustainable solutions is tough work and becomes more difficult when no viable goal is set. For example, many communities in Colorado assert their goal is to connect people with services, shelter and housing so they are not in an unhealthy, unsafe and unsanitary situation. How do you connect people with services when communities deem them and their belongings deserving of being swept?
How do you connect people with housing when shelter space and affordable housing is lacking? How do you connect the homeless to mental health services when our cities, counties and states under-resource them?
Homelessness is a reality and will not go away based on our inability to stomach it. What will it take to have our legislatures, civic organizations, community leaders and other coalition groups come together and finally say we are working on long-term solutions to the homeless problem?
One incentive for undertaking a focused problem-solving pledge may be the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that reminds communities they may not criminalize a homeless person for sleeping outside when no other alternative exists, because it violates our civil right to be protected against cruel punishment (8th Amendment).
Don’t be silent. Call your lawmakers and tell them you want them to stop dancing around the problem of homelessness – because we all know criminalization is not getting us to where we want to be.
Kathleen Hynes is a Colorado resident, a former Colorado small business owner, and for over a decade a volunteer speaker for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. She lives in Denver.
