Regardless of the choices that these men and women make it will impact the community. My friends as poverty warriors we must be aware of that. A homeless person camping in front of a business is bad for business. When cities are trying to woo out of city businesses and educators and good citizens those that are camping in your parks make moving to your city difficult to sell. Our best option is to do all that we can to motivate these men and women to choose to come off of the streets.
Most cities prohibit camping in public parks but are now adding sit and lie ordinances. These can be troublesome. It is a fact that our jails are already overcrowded and they will not be paying any fines. But how do you get them to accept services that will require them to get real long-term help or overcome addictions? It is also true that forcing someone to comply with any kind of court ordered program has limited success. Many will not change though unless they are coerced.
One city started something that they called Community Court. Those that are trespassing (violating trespassing ordinances) or other small nuisance crimes would get a ticket but would be sent to community court. There in a makeshift courtroom. It was discovered through trial and error that the community court needed to be outside of the standard courtroom. In that courtroom a very real judge with authority to fine or jail meets with these men and women. Everyone waiting for the court will sit in a circle and often have coffee and light snacks. The environment is loose and welcoming, a real community connection. As each case comes up the judge listens to the defendants story. What the judge is listening for is any type of willingness to get help. The judge then “sentences” them to go to the next room where there are multiple service agencies ready to serve them. If they agree to the resources, the charges are dismissed. If they do not accept help then the judge can fine or jail them.
The community services must be in the same building and in a room as close to the “court room” as possible. One thing that happened in that town is that people showed up and connected to the social services and never had gotten a ticket. They got help and never were in a position to be camping or showering in a local park.
