Editorial | Rousting the homeless
Courier-Journal June 19, 2014
The Jeffersonville City Council took an unnecessary and mean-spirited step Monday aimed at chasing away the homeless by voting to ban all camping on public or private properties anywhere in the city.
Let’s be clear here.
This isn’t aimed at kids wanting to pitch a tent in the back yard.
It’s another way to roust the homeless from sleeping beneath underpasses, along interstate ramps or anywhere else they seek shelter on the Southern Indiana side of the Ohio River.
And conveniently, it would keep the homeless from camping at the city’s newest park at the Big Four Bridge, the pedestrian bridge that now connects Louisville and Jeffersonville after the Indiana side recently opened.
READ STORY: Some say new Jeffersonville camping ban targets homeless
Advocates understandably were upset, given Jeffersonville’s pitiful lack of resources for the homeless.
Among them was Paul Stensrud, head of the Southern Indiana homeless ministry “Jesus Cares at Exit 0,” The Courier-Journal’s Charlie White reported Wednesday.
“Where are they supposed to go?” he asked, a question for which the city has no convincing answer.
Mr. Stensrud was so distressed he resigned from the Jeffersonville Homelessness Task Force, formed last year amid criticism the city did little to aid the homeless and instead was removing gear from homeless encampments to force the occupants to relocate.
Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore has offered little other than to say he doesn’t want the impoverished homeless congregating at the city’s “front door.”
He also has suggested local ministries or charities should handle the problem, which is exactly what Mr. Stensrud and others have been struggling to do.
The city has put up $30,000 to fund a study of homeless needs, which is underway. Advocates argued in vain for the city council to wait for the results before enacting Monday’s camping ban.
But they didn’t and that’s too bad.
The city needs to understand the scope of the problem and find a better solution. As LifeSpring official Beth Keeney said:
“People have to exist somewhere. We can’t just keep pushing them away.”
