Instead of Pushing the Homeless Around, Standardize Practices

The homeless are often targets of hate crimes. They are regularly told by cops to move along. They are unwelcome guests at some public places like libraries. They are sometimes even prevented from "loitering" in front of the shelter where they live. They are an underprivileged class that many people love to hate. But it really takes the cake when the government of the wealthiest nation on earth is pushing the homeless around.

What's more is that viable solutions to homelessness are often just beyond reach due to NIMBY-ism — for instance, renters not wanting the government to house the homeless in their apartment complex — and by a solution working too well.

In my previous post I mentioned that homeless people from Silver Spring, Maryland were being sent to Washington, D.C. to receive homeless services and that D.C. officials were pushing back by trying to require that those seeking shelter in the District prove residency. Then there is the case of Mayor Michael Bloomberg giving many homeless people one-way tickets out of New York. I was truly appalled to hear from another homeless advocate that many of the homeless are sent to Alaska without coats. This is so inhumane that it should be considered a crime.

During the recently-concluded election season, Mayor-elect Vincent Gray was asked about the prospect of housing all D.C. residents. He responded by referring to a housing program in Paris that was so good that the homeless came from other parts of France in order to be housed. Gray said that he didn't want to draw homeless people from other parts of the country, due to the strain that it would put on the city's budget.

Am I the only one who thinks it's ridiculous to say that we can't bring a French housing program here because it proved too effective? It was said best in Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come." I fully understand one jurisdiction not wanting to be inundated with homeless people from all over the country. I can also appreciate the fact that one city cannot make mandates on another city, nor one state make mandates on another state. I have said throughout my four years of homeless advocacy that we need more federal legislation that 1.) makes it illegal for one government to push its homeless off on another government and 2.) standardizes best practices so that the homeless don't need to flock to one part of the country in order to get the good services and housing which should be afforded to them in all parts of the country.

It stands to reason that, rather than using budgetary constraints as an excuse for failing to create a program that has been proven to work elsewhere, we should be moving in the opposite direction — recreating that program in every major U.S. city simultaneously.

Tell President Obama, Congress and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to create legislation that stops the governments of our nation from pushing the homeless around and standardizes best practices for ending homelessness.

Photo credit: Joe