There is a national trend to criminalize the homeless, instead of providing services. A trend to have the police deal with “the problem” of the homeless. Sadly, the definition of “the problem” often isn’t the fact that we have people in our society that don’t have a home, instead, “the problem” is that they are seen in the public and it makes people uncomfortable.
I’ve been in meetings for months now where people consistently bring up the issues of human dignity and how we treat our homeless here in Madison. As I read more and more about how a city becomes one of the meanest, I began to think that liberal Madison is really just liberal and not progressive, and its not much better than other cities throughout the United States.
This, combined with the fact that we have no money in the budget for new programs this year unless we find cuts and 68% of our budget is salaries ($144 million) that we can’t touch (let me just say again, we don’t pay enough attention when we pass those union contracts, we aren’t asked our opinions before negotiating and we are handed the results of the negotiation when it is too late to effect the process and we are chastised for asking questions!), made me think I had to try something else.
Something else. We’ve been talking about what this “something else” was going to be for quite some time. When I came up with my ideas, I took them to two different groups of advocates for the homeless and asked them if they were serious about this and if they would back me up. Out of about 15 – 20 people I talked to, only two had concerns about moving forward. All of us realized that it was going to stir up controversy, but we collectively decided that it was worth the risk. And so I was willing to do it, because I didn’t want to sit through another painful meeting where someone asked “Where are the homeless supposed to sleep and go to the bathroom?” Because I don’t have any answers.
So, the “solutions” I came up with are as follows:
1. When personal items are removed from public property, there needs to be a notice (English and Spanish) put up that allows someone to move their property within 72 hours. If the property isn’t moved, instead of throwing it all out, it will be stored for 45 days. There are measures put in place to deal with if the belongings are causing a public safety hazard.
2. Homeless shouldn’t be ticketed for sleeping in the park if they have no place else to sleep.
3. Homeless shouldn’t be ticketed for going to the bathroom in public if they have no restroom to use.
The public urination one is the most controversial and of course, takes away from the first proposal which is imminently reasonable. The second two ordinances only apply to those who are homeless who have no other resources. Not drunk sports fans and bar hoppers.
Clearly, the real solutions are a day labor program, homeless outreach services, public restrooms and showers, personal storage that is accessible, more day services for the homeless, preferences for homeless to get into mental health and aoda treatment services, more resources for the homeless when they are in the shelters etc. etc. etc. But they all cost money, that we don’t have. This isn’t a priority. It’s not a basic service. The votes on the council are not there.
If those are the circumstances we are working with, if we aren’t going to provide adequate services, then at the same time, we can’t criminalize basic human functions. After all, the costs for court or even jail probably end up costing us just as much as if we would just provide the services in the first place.
So, there you have it. I’m sure many wonder why I would even stick my neck out there and propose something that sounds so crazy. Why would I open myself up to all the crazy am radio bashing and I’m sure a wonderful factless editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal? Because, it’s important. It’s about human dignity and respect for our fellow human beings.
