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The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

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Soglin puts forth ephemeral fix for homeless crime

Claiming+that+other+Wisconsin+government+agencies+drop+off+homeless+people+in+Madison%2C+Mayor+Paul+Soglin+announced+that+Madison+will+drive+them+right+back%21
Claiming that other Wisconsin government agencies drop off homeless people in Madison, Mayor Paul Soglin announced that Madison will “drive them right back!”

Madison is a very welcoming town for political liberals with houses, but for those who gravitate toward conservative politics and for homeless people, it isn’t so hospitable.

If the past few years of political melodrama have taught me anything about this town, it’s that there is a vocal contingent of Madisonians ready to put forth a categorical rejection of all things right of center in retaliation to the slightest hint of conservatism — and there’s nothing more obnoxious and oxymoronic than dogmatic liberalism.

If Mayor Paul Soglin’s management of this city has taught me anything about anything, it is that Madison is not nearly as welcoming to the homeless as its contingent of vocal liberals would suggest. According to the Cap Times, last week Soglin, arguing that “Statements that some of us have made about Madison being a drop-off point [of homeless people] for other units of government is now getting fairly well-documented,” announced that the City of Madison would “drive them right back!”

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Soglin’s comments were spurred by a discussion of the 100 block of West Mifflin Street, which has become a haven for many homeless people. The Cap Times also reported that Captain Carl Gloede of the Madison Police Department explained that police have made more than 200 arrests on the 100 block of West Mifflin during the past year.

While residents demanded that the city step in and address the spike of crime by moving people off the block, Soglin faulted the state of Wisconsin and the prison system for the homelessness and crime present on West Mifflin. He claimed that the Department of Corrections is releasing inmates directly to the streets of Madison without the means to find employment and housing.

Obviously, Soglin and Gloede are addressing serious problems of poverty and crime on West Mifflin — they are both right to point out that something needs to be done to make the block safe for downtown residents. Everybody agrees on that. What I haven’t heard is a plan of action.

What I mean is that drive-them-right-back-exclamation-point isn’t a long-term solution to the problem of homelessness and crime in downtown Madison. In fact, it’s a simplistic nonsolution. One would think that after pointing out a root cause of crime and poverty in this city, namely the Department of Corrections’ policy of releasing convicts who don’t have the resources to find a job and a home, Soglin could come up with something better than a plan to kick homeless people out of Madison.

Soglin has argued that permanent housing would be a permanent solution to Madison’s homelessness problem, but this isn’t the first time he has put forward a send-them-away type plan to deal with homelessness. At about this time one year ago, Soglin proposed that the city invest in a program called Helping Hands Homeward, a service that would provide homeless people with long distance bus fare with the goal of reuniting them with family and friends in other cities. “Helping Hands Homeward” sounds all well and good, but the program seemed to be an all too convenient way to put Madison’s homeless population on a bus with a one way ticket to somebody else’s backyard.

Soglin’s efforts to address homelessness are more confusing and convoluted than a collection of Yogi Berra non sequiturs. The only permanent solution is permanent housing for homeless people, so the City of Madison needs to buy them bus tickets and send them to other cities. It’s obnoxious that other cities in Wisconsin are dropping homeless people, including criminals, off in Madison, so the City of Madison needs to retaliate in eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth fashion and “drive them right back!”

I wonder if Soglin visualizes his policy on homelessness and crime as a sort of Ping-Pong game in which cities bounce homeless people back and forth, or just one statewide game of hot potato — I suspect he might.

However, if officials like Paul Soglin are bright enough to elucidate root causes of these problems, such as a lack of affordable housing and an inadequate prison system, that’s precisely where they should look for a solution. Soglin and the City of Madison should advocate for an improvement in Department of Corrections rehabilitation and integration programs or for permanent homeless shelters rather than focusing myopically on removing homeless criminals from the 100 block of West Mifflin and sending them somewhere else.

Driving homeless people right back is the epitome of a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, and advocating temporary fixes while pointing out the sources of downtown Madison’s homeless crime problem and the permanent solutions that would address it can only be described as willful ignorance.

Charles Godfrey ([email protected]is a senior majoring in math and physics.

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