This week’s city council meeting was packed to overflowing. The topic was a proposal to criminalize and fine people for sleeping outside. During public comment, resident after resident condemned the attacks that had prompted the proposal — by one individual, who happened to be unhoused, against three people downtown — but also pointed out that fining and harassing unhoused people would do nothing to prevent such attacks in the future. Speakers called for the city council not to victimize an entire group of people for one individual’s acts. Not a single member of the public spoke in favor of that approach.
But more than opposition, community members were there to speak for something. They called for thoughtful, data-driven and emotionally intelligent governance. They advocated seeing homelessness as the complicated and persistent challenge that it is – understanding that unhoused people are not the problem; they are struggling with an array of problems themselves.
Most importantly, people shared their experiences moving through periods of homelessness—when escaping abuse at home, after losing a job and struggling to find the next, during college while hustling between classes and work. Over and over, what helped was not a stern lesson from a penalty, but kindness and resources giving them enough safety and stability to then build the successful lives they’d been working toward.
Effective solutions start with listening. That room overflowed not only with bodies, but with wisdom about causes of homelessness and truly effective interventions. It overflowed with the very voices that need to be part of any effort to really improve lives — making all community members safer. I went into that meeting feeling frustrated and disheartened but left feeling grateful for this groundswell, hopeful.
