Locking up the homeless is a heartless response to a long-standing problem • Virginia Mercury
Charlottesville city officials say they have no plans to remove homeless people from the popular pedestrian zone around the Downtown Mall, although some business owners have complained that their presence affects the “safety” and “cleanliness” of the area and that they need to be rounded up.
“It’s an extremely complex problem,” city spokeswoman Afton Schneider told me. “It’s not one that can be easily solved.”
Thank God, at least for the moment, compassion has triumphed over punishment.
The insensitivity reminds Ebenezer Scrooge Denying Bob Cratchit a lump of coal in winter. Or demanding that people pull themselves out of a swamp by their own power – when they don’t even have shoes.
I understand that the presence of homeless people and the Related Begging could hinder retail sales. People strolling through the mall could feel threatened or at least harassed.
But it is important to remember why about 200 homeless people in Charlottesville and five nearby counties must survive this way: Many of them are facing medical emergencies, layoffs, or other disasters that leave them without money. Affordable housing is with surcharge in Virginia; Demand has exceeded supply.
And unfortunately An estimated two thirds of people surviving on the streets around the world suffer from some form of mental illness, according to an analysis of 85 studies published this year.
“Nothing is going to change as long as there continue to be barriers to finding housing,” Shayla Washington, executive director of the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, told me Thursday.
Charlottesville Morning And The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress have taken a close look at homelessness in the city of 45,000 inhabitants. The challenges there are often twofold in communities across the stateincluding Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Fairfax County. Some places have a Housing First modelwhich provides accommodation as quickly as possible and then offers the necessary social services and advice.
The Daily Progress recently reported that the mayor and police chief met with business leaders at the Downtown Mall in late June to discuss the problem. Some business leaders suggested that police should more aggressively monitor and evict homeless people, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass vs. Johnson However, local ordinances criminalizing camping on public property do not constitute cruel or unusual punishment, even if homeless people have nowhere else to go.
However, Charlottesville’s police chief said the city has no such ordinance to enforce. Then, at a city council meeting on August 5, several residents and homeless advocates publicly spoke out against the “inhumane” rhetoric and “lock them up” mentality.
This loud rejection was justified.
A petition organized by Friends of Cville Downtown proposed creating more resources to help people without a roof over their heads, the newspaper said. These include: a free public health clinic, an overnight shelter with fewer hurdles to admission and a designated campground with bathrooms, showers and storage. This was a reversal from an original draft that penalized people living on the streets.
It is also not clear how much the presence of homeless people affects sales at malls. The recent article published conflicting statistics. Washington, the homeless advocate, pointed out that many stores there are niche or boutique businesses, which could limit the number of customers. Inflation could also affect sales.
“I don’t think homelessness is the only threat to their businesses,” she added.
It is clear that the area around Charlottesville is not the District of Columbiawhere federal and local authorities have repeatedly cleared large homeless encampments. In May, workers closed several encampments, affecting dozens of people in the capital.
This city recorded more than 5,600 homeless in the annual point-in-time count in Januarya total that dwarfs the numbers in Virginia towns.
“The District’s Encampment Response Team was activated to protect residents on District property following the occurrence of dangerous conditions including fires, the risk of traffic accidents, multiple attacks and increasing rodent problems,” the city said in a statement.
This is an extreme stance that should be avoided whenever possible. And just because officials are destroying tents and makeshift living quarters doesn’t mean that the people who were sleeping there will suddenly have other places to stay.
That’s why long-term, well-planned solutions are needed. Some ideas are coming from groups like Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH), a nonprofit developer that operates 11 housing developments across the state, including one in Charlottesville known as “The Crossings,” which includes 60 apartments and opened in 2012.
VSH and the Piedmont Housing Alliance want to build 140 affordable housing units in nearby Albemarle County, called Premier Circle, but a previous news report The work has come to a standstill because of the estimated higher costs. Construction could begin this year, a VSH spokeswoman told me.
“We are very, very excited to launch this project,” said Kate McCarthy, a VHS spokeswoman.
However, these efforts can take years, even if city authorities take the initiative to set up multi-purpose overnight shelters.
During my time at the Virginian-Pilot, I participated in a very public debate with municipal officials in Virginia Beach who, I believe, deliberately delayed the construction of a homeless shelter in the Commonwealth’s largest city. A significant portion of the homeless often moved to the coast or nearby neighborhoods.
It took a lot of ink and combative counterarguments from local officials before the city finally opened the $29 million Housing Resource Center in 2018. The center has beds for individuals and families and also offers medical screenings, health education and other services.
Before it opened, homeless people had to travel to a large nonprofit facility in nearby Norfolk.
Or just sleep where they were.
That doesn’t mean that homeless people are worthless, and it’s certainly no excuse for locking them up like common criminals.
Or removing them from the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville without providing alternative accommodations.
