By: Aaron Coleman – A entry on how criminalizing homelessness isn’t the solution. It takes a look at Kansas City, Kansas locally in there homeless ordinance.
The Kansas City, Kansas ordinance criminalizing homelessness treats people as problems to remove rather than humans needing support. Defending the downtrodden – that is something I will stand up for in this lifetime and every life If I could.
This whole notion that we have the resources to criminalize homelessness at a time when every shelter in KC is FULL is absurd. To imprison someone is far more expensive than to house them in the community and have them paying taxes.
If you aren’t upset about this, try pitching a tent in your backyard tonight and let me know how it goes. Most people can’t last one night without the comfort of a warm bed, bathrooms, heat, or safety. Not trying to trivialize this issue, but I hope to never feel the sense of privilege that some feel that separates them from homelessness. The truth is, for many of us, one major medical bill, job layoff, or crisis could put us in the very same place.
Homelessness is not a moral failure; it’s a societal one. If I pay taxes, I want it to go towards helping my community. I don’t want to pay to imprison the homeless, which is what this new ordinance does. Strong communities are measured by how they treat their most vulnerable. Not by how efficiently they hide them.
And right now, Kansas City needs more people willing to stand up, because what’s happening is not just bad policy, it’s a moral failure.
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