Mike’s Musings: Homelessness Is Not Just a Big-City Problem

When most people think about homelessness, they picture the sidewalks of Detroit, Chicago or Los Angeles. But homelessness is no longer confined to America’s largest cities. It is increasingly visible in smaller Michigan communities, including Three Rivers and Jackson.
The problem may look different here than it does in Detroit, but it is real. Some people sleep in cars, motels, shelters or the homes of friends and relatives. Others live in tents, abandoned buildings or wooded areas where the public rarely sees them.
Jackson has experienced the more visible effects of homelessness, while Three Rivers and surrounding St. Joseph County face many of the same problems on a smaller scale. Residents and businesses encounter people who need food, shelter, mental-health care, addiction treatment—or sometimes all four.
The challenge also reaches the other Michigan communities our newspapers serve: Allegan, Harrison, Farwell, Mt. Pleasant, Sturgis, Paw Paw, Allegan, Wayland, Hopkins, Berrien Springs and their surrounding townships.
Homelessness in these communities is sometimes hidden, but that does not make it less serious. A family living in a motel is homeless. A veteran sleeping in his car is homeless. So is a woman moving from house to house because she fled an abusive relationship.
Too often, the debate becomes a choice between compassion and accountability. One side says we should provide housing and assistance without conditions. The other argues that homeless people must accept responsibility for their circumstances.
The truth is that we need both.
Many people become homeless after losing a job, suffering a medical emergency or falling behind as rents and other living expenses rise. Some are veterans or victims of domestic violence. Others have worked for years but are now living one unexpected expense away from the street.
For these individuals, temporary housing, job assistance and affordable medical care may be enough to help them regain stability. Our communities should be willing to offer that helping hand.
We must also acknowledge that mental illness and addiction contribute significantly to chronic homelessness. Giving someone a meal or motel room will not resolve the underlying problem if that person is seriously mentally ill or addicted to drugs.
In some cases, individuals are unable—or unwilling—to seek treatment voluntarily. Allowing them to live beneath bridges, in abandoned buildings or along wooded trails is not compassion. It is neglect disguised as tolerance.
Michigan needs more psychiatric beds, addiction-treatment facilities and long-term recovery programs. Local police officers, hospitals and county jails should not be expected to function as our primary mental-health system.
At the same time, Three Rivers, Jackson and our other communities have a responsibility to maintain public order. Parks, sidewalks, libraries and business entrances belong to everyone. Residents and merchants should not be forced to accept threatening behavior, public drug use, discarded needles or destructive encampments.
Help should come with reasonable expectations. People receiving publicly funded housing should be expected to obey the law, respect the property and participate in treatment or employment programs when capable of doing so.
Government must also be more accountable for the money being spent. Taxpayers deserve to know which programs are genuinely moving people into stable housing and productive lives.
Success should not be measured merely by the number of meals served or motel rooms purchased. It should be measured by how many people complete treatment, find work, secure stable housing and become self-sufficient.
Churches, charities and volunteer organizations throughout Three Rivers, Jackson and our other newspaper communities already perform valuable work. They know the people involved and often understand local needs better than large state or federal bureaucracies. Their efforts should be supported, coordinated and properly funded.
Homeless people deserve dignity because they are human beings—not statistics or inconveniences. But dignity also means refusing to abandon people to addiction, untreated illness and permanent life on the streets.
Compassion without accountability can perpetuate the problem. Accountability without compassion ignores the circumstances that put people there.
Whether we are talking about Three Rivers, Jackson, Clare, Harrison, Sturgis, Paw Paw, Allegan, Wayland, or South Haven the goal should be the same: help people regain control of their lives while protecting the quality of life in our communities.
We should offer a hand up when someone falls. But the ultimate objective must be recovery and independence, not permanent dependence.