Commentaries at the San Antonio Report provide space for our community to share perspectives and offer solutions to pressing local issues. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author alone.
When I was experiencing homelessness, I had a dog named Vicky. She was my protector and cared for me in a world that was built to overlook our dignity. When police would come to dismantle our belongings and force us out of sight, Vicky remained a constant companion. She gave me the unwavering support our system fails to provide people in the homeless community.
Homelessness surged last year to the highest level on record in the U.S., due largely to skyrocketing rents and a lack of affordable housing.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on a case, City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, threatens to make matters worse for the thousands of people experiencing homelessness across our country. The ruling has made it easier for local governments to fine, ticket or arrest unhoused people, even if no housing or shelter is available for them to go to. Now, it’s up to cities across the country, including San Antonio, to decide if they invest in supporting or punishing those experiencing homelessness.
Putting homeless people behind bars and giving them a criminal record will only make it harder for them to secure permanent housing after they are released. A move that enables widespread criminalization of homelessness could cost taxpayers millions of dollars, without really solving the issue at hand.
Unhoused people need healing and care, not punishment, to break the cycle of incarceration and homelessness so many of us face. Alternatives to punishment exist across our states–and they are often more affordable than incarceration. In Los Angeles, where homelessness was declared a local state of emergency last year, it costs about $180 a day to offer community-based housing and clinical care for people with serious mental health needs. Keeping them in the city’s jails costs upwards of $400 per day.
Housing First approaches that quickly connect unhoused people to permanent housing are effective for most of the homeless community. However, almost a quarter of people experiencing homelessness have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, that needs to be properly treated. Many don’t have insurance to afford treatment or family to rely on for support. For these individuals, providing housing alone without long-term, holistic care services won’t be enough to help them reintegrate back into society.
I lived in a shelter for some time and have worked with chronically homeless people in San Antonio for more than five years since. What I have learned from this experience is that nearly all of us face the same challenges when we are finally able to find an apartment or secure housing. We have to learn how to buy groceries and cook again. We struggle to sleep in a bed. We find the deafening silence of our new homes frightening after so many years living in loud environments. The homeless community is, after all, a community – and it can feel extremely lonely to transition out of it so abruptly.
Before being plopped into a house, we first need the tools and time to repair our own foundation.
Instead of wasting millions of dollars to lock people up and continue to induce mental health issues, we should invest that money in holistic care institutions that meet the needs of the homeless community. In San Antonio’s Towne Twin Village, for example, a nonprofit has built a care model to end chronic homelessness for seniors in our community. The focus of their program is not just on providing permanent housing, but on creating a welcoming neighborhood where seniors who have been homeless for several years can be in community with one another, receive counseling and health services, and reconnect with their family members in a safe setting.
Local governments hold significant say over how the Supreme Court’s decision will play out in their cities. They need to realize that addressing homelessness with punishment, citations and fines won’t solve the problem. Instead, they need to invest in programs that put an end to the homelessness and incarceration cycle by providing unhoused people the support and healing they need.
