The United States Supreme Court recently ruled on Grants Pass v. Johnson. Now most people don’t have a clue what exactly this case entailed or have even heard of it.
In a nutshell it lets municipalities turn homelessness into crime. People can get a ticket, a fine or jail time for sleeping in a public place. A park bench or sidewalk or even in your car.
As someone who has personally not had a place to lay my head at one point in my life, I really don’t understand the underlying rationale behind this ruling.
While yes, on one side, I get the criminal element homeless issues, where people are committing crimes to fuel their drug use, abuse or addiction. And most communities can do without this type of person. And in today’s environment, it seems the vast majority of homeless individuals are addicted to some form substance, illegal of otherwise. So, getting these people to move on and out is understandable.
The flip side are the people that have hit hard times for one reason or another. Job loss, or illness and unable to pay the rent and bills happens to good people. As the saying goes, “Bad things can happen to good people.” And then to find a job you often need a permanent address to call your own, so unless there is a Good Samaritan willing to help with a pillow and a porch, you’re hosed.
Let’s dive into the root cause, something that politicians rarely do, and examine why we have a huge homeless problem. We can blame inflation or unscrupulous landlords, or Donald Trump, and maybe that’s accurate. Two of the three, anyway, in some cases.
Fentanyl. Heroin. Meth. Drugs.
The so-called War On Drugs failed, they say. We convicted way too many black and brown people they say. It was a losing proposition, one we could never win, they say. Our prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders, they say. Dealers are in hopeless situations and just trying to get by, they say. Everyone is a victim. It’s not their fault. Whatever.
Well, some or all of the above can be true and the question is why?
People use drugs as a way to escape. The wealthy indulge in more expensive drugs and do it behind closed doors, whereas the homeless shoot up in alleys and gas station bathrooms.
Drug smuggling and dealing is a cat and mouse game with law enforcement and will never be fully eradicated. However, knowing who is coming into the country and securing southern borders will be a good start in slowing the flow of cocaine and fentanyl from Mexico. Cocaine migrating like people from Central America and much of the fentanyl arriving from China in Mexican ports and making its way north without much resistance.
Here is where I get draconian and have the ACLU hate me. Instead of fining, ticketing and jailing homeless people, determine if they are indeed addicted to a substance and mandate a rehabilitation program. No negotiations. You’re going to rehab, and job training, if you don’t have a skill or trade.
There are always jobs if you really want one. Illegal immigrants fill the kitchens of restaurants and pick our fruit. Go to rehab, get training, get a job, or you will go to jail.
Cities like San Francisco spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on homeless programs that do nothing except attract more homeless people looking for free stuff. There will never be enough beds in San Francisco – there’s no room to build. The money goes to outreach counselors and consultants and fleabag hotels to house a few dozen of the few thousand sleeping on piss-stained sidewalks.
It’s an endless flow of wasted taxpayer dollars on an unsolvable problem as it currently stands.
It will take an asshole to do the right thing. Actually a bunch of them, but not necessarily like the Supreme Court decision – but using that as the stick to get them to take the carrot. Liberals still blame Ronald Reagan for cutting funds to mental hospitals in California 50+ years ago. Come on. That’s not the problem. It’s current policy that does nothing except make everyone feel good because they write checks to community organizers and activists to do nothing because if they did succeed they’d be unemployed themselves.
Honestly it’s a vicious cycle. Mostly – I said MOSTLY – undereducated people coming from broken homes with no direction get caught up in crime and drugs and can’t right the ship. One thing happens and then another, and all of a sudden they have a glass pipe in a tent on a sidewalk.
Arresting someone for the crime of having nowhere to go isn’t the solution – flat out. There has to be some tough-love attached to whatever solutions are lobbed back and forth. Coddling by itself or using a stick by itself clearly don’t work. That said, too many choices equal no choices so we need a clear business plan and a test case. Grants Pass, Oregon is not that petrie dish. It has to be a Los Angeles-type of location where there is a huge drug and homeless problem that has lingered for decades with no end in sight.
Where is that knight in shining armor? It could be a Steve Ballmer, who funds the project so he can ensure there is oversight and minimal waste. Get the mayor and city council to buy in and get to work. Because clearly pouring billions down the drain with no accountability has only benefited those running the programs.
