The City of Fresno has destroyed three homeless encampments in three weeks, the encampment on H Street being the most recent. This “cleanup” crusade thrashes human dignity for the sake of aesthetics.
Mayor Ashley Swearengin talks of getting the homeless into housing before worrying about “other issues” related to their situation.
What are those issues? What else can be bigger than displacing more than 250 people from their homes?
According to the Fresno City and County Plan ranging from 2008 to 2018, Fresno had 4,247 homeless; 941 or 22 percent are chronically homeless.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that the homeless population for any given area in the country ranges from 1-2 percent.
According to studies, as much as 19.4 percent of the homeless population suffers from mental illness; 21.8 percent are chronic substance abusers and 4.1 percent are veterans. A significant number of the homeless have HIV/AIDS, or are victims of domestic violence. Some in the homeless population are unaccompanied youth.
The city of Fresno’s actions ignore the complexities of the homeless situation. Those complexities consist of the many causes of homelessness and according to HomeAid, an organization devoted to ending homelessness, these causes are tragic life occurrences such as job loss, domestic violence, divorce, family disputes, depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities.
Demolishing the homeless encampments is about applying a superficial fix to a multifaceted issue, like treating a symptom rather than addressing real causes.
Yes, bring out the bulldozers and sweep the lives of others into a trash bin. How does that begin to fix the mental illness or substance abuse or the larger issues that plague this population?
The destruction of encampments may make some business and property owners in the downtown area happy because they may associate this “aesthetically” pleasing downtown Fresno with higher property values. Regardless, the value of property should never trump the value of human lives.
Now, the community does not have to deal with the reality that is the homeless. It is much easier to ignore if all the signs are swept away. That is until it explodes and manifests itself in other forms.
There is a deeper issue here that those in City Hall are ignoring. These homeless encampments are homes for people who have already been displaced many times in their lives by unyielding and uncaring bureaucracies who are more about process than saving real lives.
Where is the outrage? Where are our values? What shall we teach the next generation about human dignity?
Instead of destroying what is viewed as ugly or inappropriate, the community should rally to aid the homeless to improve their plight.
Where are the displaced homeless to go? According to a Sept. 9 story by Jim Guy and George Hostetter in the Fresno Bee, “a task force of police and code enforcement officers will ensure the camps don’t return.”
There’s nothing about providing more housing or how to help the homeless find homes. Homeless people in Fresno are left with no options. Without a specific place to go, what can they do except create another camp elsewhere?
Anyone who has ever been homeless can attest to what happens to a person who has lost their space.
A home is more than a physical address, but still, a physical address is necessary to get benefits or jobs, to have a sense of self or simply a place to call home. So you can’t get a job because you don’t have an address, and you can’t get an address because you don’t have a job. Homelessness is a continuous cycle. Instead of collectively mirroring Pontius Pilate and wiping our hands of the situation, we need to come up with real solutions to reduce homelessness.
With 19.4 percent of the homeless population suffering from mental illness, mental health services would be a great place to start. Kings View Behavioral Health System serves the homeless or at-risk population, but the location is out in Tulare. How many of the homeless population will be able to travel out to Tulare for help? The Fresno County First Step Outreach serves the homeless population, but only those ages 18 and above.
Places like the Poverello House and the encampments formed by the homeless are often the only places that salvation can be found. Think about what it would be like to sleep on a park bench or sidewalk or to be condemned by society for a way of life that is beyond your control. Think about how much we take for granted before making a judgment about someone else’s life.
The homeless have nothing in this world but themselves, and the sad part is that they have more strength and perseverance than any of us will ever understand. They deserve a chance to salvage whatever human dignity they have left.
