Homelessness is not a problem for the sad, rich people who don’t like having to walk past homeless people. Homelessness is a problem for those actually on the streets.
Yet again, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin seems to have missed this distinction. In an April 24 memo, Soglin unilaterally addressed what he described as “recent downtown behavioral issues.” He specifically warns about “drifters” on Frances Street between State and Langdon Streets. Among other issues, the memo said city officials have found a number of hypodermic needles as well “feces laden pants” in the vicinity.
Soglin is absolutely right that this is a public health issue in urgent need of addressing. His plan to remedy the situation, however, is where things begin to go off the rails. Specifically, Soglin’s new policies would affect all homeless people — not just the “drifters” he is targeting.
His first measure would end all illegal outdoor living encampments, and force people who wish to live outside to relocate to the City County Building. This is problematic – is it even enforceable? — but there is at least some logic to making sure people are living near an accessible public restroom. Of course, a better solution would be for Madison to construct some sort of publicly available toilets downtown, something that is in the works but should have happened long ago.
Next, Soglin says police will communicate with homeless shelters to ensure available space when they “force drifters out of unsanitary public spaces.” Of course, police should be doing this in any situation involving a homeless person.
But more importantly, if Soglin plans to force people out of their encampments, then he needs to be sure there is adequate shelter space for them. At the moment, it does not appear this is the case. Largely because of the inability of City and County leadership to work effectively together, efforts at adding shelter capacity have ground to a standstill.
Soglin then proposes to curtail free food services at public locations besides the City County building. He is also suggesting an ordinance that limits time spent on public benches to one hour. These two measures totally miss the point of preventing unsafe public behavior, and are blatantly targeted at homeless people, regardless of whether or not they are following the law. These ordinances will clearly not be enforced equally among all Madison residents. If a white, well-dressed college student spends two hours reading and sipping a latte on a bench, what are the odds the police will kick them off? What about student organizations that give away food on State Street mall?
The next part of the plan involves researching legislation to make all of State Street and Capitol Square a public park in order to give the city “greater control of behavior.” It’s difficult to say how plausible this legislation is, but designating a bustling commercial area a public park certainly seems against the spirit of the law.
Finally, officials from the health department will begin patrolling problem areas to help police identity and cite public drug use. Of all the measures, this one seems to be the most sound.
In the memo, Soglin emphasizes repeatedly that this is not a homeless issue. And he is right. However, reading past his rhetoric and actually analyzing his proposals, it becomes clear this is not what he believes. Many of these measures will impact homeless individuals, and likely will not (or cannot) be enforced equally. This is especially ridiculous considering that the homeless are far from the only people being unsanitary in public — UW students can take credit for most of the sidewalk vomit stains. In fact, these measures seem aimed more at keeping homeless folks out of the view of State Street shoppers than actually helping anybody.
This is another unfortunate instance of Soglin misunderstanding homeless issues at the expense of those actually living on the streets. At the end of last semester, we gave the mayor the “Election Year Homeless Advocate” award, for suddenly talking big about helping the homeless in the months preceding his election. Not surprisingly, after securing another term, it is more of the same from Soglin.
