Faith leaders emphasize that Mayor Matt Mahan's proposal to arrest homeless individuals who refuse shelter is morally wrong and ineffective. They argue that this approach contradicts the core values of compassion, human dignity, and community responsibility upheld by various faith traditions. The article highlights that criminalizing homelessness overlooks root causes such as the wealth gap and unsafe shelter conditions. Instead, it advocates for increased investment in permanent housing and mental health services, as well as better funding for outreach programs, which is a more humane and effective solution than policing the homeless.
Arresting homeless individuals for refusing shelter contradicts the moral call to compassion, human dignity, justice and community responsibility.
Instead, we must invest more in permanent housing, supportive services and mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Deepening funding for intensive, wrap-around and innovative outreach models is a smarter investment than standing up a new, costly policing regime.
A criminalization model could turn case managers into police.
Collection
[
|
...
]