Dealing with Homelessness in Martinez - Some Final Thoughts

Homelessness is one of those issues where you have two sides -- the side that feels bad for them and wants to help, and the side who say "they're drunks, we don't want them in our community, put them in jail."

But the fact is both sides are right to a certain point. Homelessness is an issue that isn't going away anytime soon, so we need to learn how to have them in our community, but to set strong boundaries and be consistant once a boundary is set.

Most people ask me why these guys don't work. My question to you is, would you hire someone that hasn't showered or doesn't even have an address? Most businesses won't.

I think Contra Costa County has a pretty good program; it starts with shelter and a case worker to idenify that person's issues. Once that's determined, they are given a program to follow with goals to be met. But the problem I see is, we are asking people with no life skills to apply for things and read a lot of paperwork and make decisions that they haven't had to make for years, in some cases. On top of that, no one likes change -- I don't care if you have millions of dollars, no one likes change. Then you throw in mental illness, and a person can feel like it's easier to be on the streets.

But with that said you also have the problem of homeless drinking, committing crimes, drugs, and lots of loitering mixed with panhandling.

Everyone has their own ideas on how we should deal with the problem. I heard everything from "put them on a island," to "give them a piece of land to let them camp."

Really the answer is, there is no answer -- homeless are in every city in our county. I can give homeless people options, and I give them rides to those options, but follow-through has to be from them; they have to want to change. Every time I contact someone and put them in shelter or detox I know the chance is small that they'll stay. But I believe if one stays and changes their life, I was a success.

The answer is not jail either -- the police could arrest someone drinking literally every day. That person will be out in a day, the city is out $500 in bookig fees and the problem is still there.

So what is the answer? No matter what laws you pass, no matter what businesses get upset, no matter what, we'll always have homeless citizens. So we need to be able to set boundaries and be consistant about those boundaries, and that takes everyone -- business owners, police, citizens, everyone.

Because although we'll always have homeless in our community, that doesn't mean we have to put up with their issues. It's not against the law to be homeless; it's the things that go along with homelessness that cause the problems.