No More Allowing Homelessness!

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

The "Mayor says no excuse for allowing homelessness" at his State of the City address.  See Barreda, V. "Salem Mayor: Sit/lie ordinance needed to clear downtown streets."  (12 February 2020, Statesman Journal.)

In what KYKN's Brent DeHart called "the most definitive statement, the most commanding leadership I've ever seen Chuck Bennett do", the Mayor has declared that recent efforts to bring more homeless housing and resources to Salem  "remove any barrier or excuse for anyone to claim that camping on our community’s sidewalks represents a needed choice or situation."

Anyone?  Really?  Cause Chuck says so, that's it?

It seems the Statesman Journal wasn't persuaded, because the next day, Bennett's statement was called into question with a quote from Jimmy Jones, Director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, who told SJ that "though there are many resources, he would disagree the only reason the estimated 900 unsheltered people in the area would stay outside 'in this environment' is because of choice."

The only homeless resources that have come on line since November 25, 2019, when City Council removed the sit-lie provisions from Ordinance bill 10-19, is the 19-space overnight Safe Sleep program for women.  It was immediately at capacity.  The ARCHES Project is set to expand space and services (but not hours) on March 1.  Everything else is months, if not years, away.

Bennett's been caught and corrected more than once before this for saying the people living on the streets downtown are homelessness by choice because of all the services available to them, so the fact that he keeps saying it must mean that either he truly believes it, or he thinks if he says it often enough, people will come to believe it.  Those are the times we live in.

Bennett knows the "homeless by choice" meme is needed to make sit-lie acceptable.  Ditto the meme that "sit-lie ordinances push people into shelters" and programs, which he was claiming in his recent interview on KYKN.  Otherwise, sit-lie is too obviously cruel (not that being cruel necessarily bothers Bennett, but the appearance of it's not good politics in Salem).

Bennett needs four councilors to vote with him on sit-lie, and he has only three.  Councilors Nanke, Lewis and Hoy all voted in November not to take sit-lie out of Ordinance Bill 10-19.  He can't get Councilors Ausec, Leung or Nordyke because they see sit-lie for what it is.  Judging by his performance during the State of the City address, he hasn't been able to persuade Councilors Andersen or Kaser and just wants everyone to know he's not to blame if sit-lie fails to pass (again).  He wins either way.   

Bennett acknowledged in his KYKN interview that "we can't meet the need for the folks down there [at Rite Aid, etc.] with the right kind of place for them to go", and that "a lot of this comes from trauma, and mental health issues, and serious addiction...and I don't disagree that that's the problem."  So, lest there be any doubt, Bennett knows the facts.  He just doesn't let them get in his  way.

The Sit-Lie Controversy

in a Nutshell

People who believe sitting and lying on downtown sidewalks, etc. should be prohibited:

• buy in to the "homeless by choice" meme,
• seek to force law-abiding adults conform to their norms,
• are not primarily concerned for the safety and well-being of the people living on the sidewalks,
• may believe doing so will force them to engage in services,
• believe that engaging in services means getting off the streets.

However, people experiencing street homelessness:

• can be engaged in services and still living on the streets,
• can be staying in an overnight shelter, and yet be on the streets during the day,
• live with toxic stress,
• are driven by overwhelming fear and anxiety, and the attendant desire for relief,
• may live with mental illness and/or addiction,
• may do bad things,
• and yet have human and civil rights to self-determination.

Salem is not in China or Russia.

So people who would like to try to force law-abiding adults to conform to their norms should:

• accept that criminalizing (i.e., prohibiting) non-conforming behavior will not force people into services or off the streets,
• suspend their blame and judgment,
• and focus on harm reduction and supporting trained professionals as they continue to offer housing and services to those living on the streets downtown.