The homeless issue is one of Jackson’s great challenges. Our city is not alone in this. San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego and other fair weather cities are grappling with a homeless problem several orders of magnitude greater than Jackson.
Back in the old days, vagrancy was illegal. You could be arrested and thrown in jail for wandering around with nothing productive to do.
As industrialization and urbanization intensified, urban homelessness became a greater issue. The Great Depression created a surge in homelessness caused by economic conditions beyond an individual’s ability to control. Hobos catching trains and cooking tin cans by a fire were romanticized in literature.
The cultural revolution of the sixties challenged traditional beliefs on criminalization of vagrancy. In addition, there was a political movement to depopulate mental institutions, which once housed millions nationwide. Today, it’s less than a 10th of that.
Eventually, the law changed. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the Ninth District Court of Appeals ruling that vagrancy laws were cruel and unusual punishment, thus in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling stated states and cities could not “criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless—namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the streets” when there are more homeless persons than available shelter beds or in the absence of other adequate alternatives. Alternatives must be practically accessible to a given individual, taking into account disability, religious beliefs, or other restrictions.
According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, “This case makes it illegal for your community to punish you for sitting, lying down, or sleeping outside when you have no option to do so inside. If you are asked to leave public space, you have the right to ask where you can go, instead. If there is no other place for you to lawfully go, and you are violating no other law, then you may have the right to refuse to move.”
In Jackson, the homeless problem has manifested itself in numerous locations. An empty office building on the northwest corner of I-55 and Briarwood was overrun by homeless people, leading the city to require the owner to tear it down. A wooded area just south of the Parham Bridges park became a homeless encampment. Currently, the abandoned OYO Hotel on the east side of I-55 near Canton Mart is overrun with homeless, some of whom panhandle aggressively around nearby businesses. It’s a real problem.
I remember a few years ago, a Jackson police captain spoke at my Rotary Club. He urged us not to give money to panhandlers. He said most were frauds and owned homes. They drove to their panhandling spots in their cars.
Indeed, my sense is that a lot of the Jackson panhandlers are “urban actors” who dress the role. A convincing panhandler can easily earn $100 a day. Another subset of panhandlers are probably drug addicts or alcoholics looking for one more high. Many are mentally ill, wandering around talking to imaginary people. A few are probably normal people who suddenly lost their job and didn’t have a safety net. It’s a mix.
I don’t give money to the panhandlers on the traffic intersections. First of all, it’s hugely dangerous to panhandle in these high traffic areas. Second, who knows where the money will go. Third, the police have asked me not to. I give money to my church instead. But I can’t help the disquieting feeling that I should be generous.
Once I was stopped at a light and a panhandler started yelling at me, “You (multiple expletives),” he yelled. “I’ve been here for a week and you haven’t given me one penny.” Some homeless people can be threatening. Their panhandling borders on assault.
A few months ago, I was driving down Briarwood Drive and I saw a man laid out in the middle of the street. Cars were just dodging him. Nobody stopped.
I pulled into a nearby parking lot and walked to the man. I asked him what had happened and he mumbled to me incoherently. I gently moved him out of the road to the sidewalk and called 911.
While I was waiting for an ambulance to arrive, a physician who worked nearby approached us. We exchanged pleasantries. We knew of one another. Then he grilled the befallen man. “So what’d you do? Crack? Meth? Junk? Get up and get moving.”
This physician, whose office was nearby the overrun Briarwood office building, was much less alarmed or sympathetic than me. Apparently, this was a much more common event in his life. He had seen it before and his sympathy had turned more toward disgust. Many in Jackson feel the same way.
Once the man was safe, I left. I assume an ambulance came and took him away. He was gone an hour later when I drove by again. Who knows how much that cost taxpayers. Probably thousands.
We all know the story of the good Samaritan helping the dying man on the side of the road. The Bible story was in my mind when I stopped. But you don’t hear much about alcoholics and drug addicts back in those days. I don’t think they survived very long.
So what is to be done? My idealistic thought is to have some big rural camp where the homeless could live voluntarily. They could get free food and a dorm room and have access to computers and training to help better their situation. It would be a place where the police could take them to at least get them off the street.
But my more cynical friends nod their heads. Such a camp would soon be overrun with drugs and violence. The homeless would flee. It would be a waste of money.
What will probably happen is more or the same. Urban residents will have to learn to live and make peace with the homeless and work around them. It will ebb and flow. The police will crackdown and let up, always skirting around their Constitutional limitations. Shelters like Stewpot will help those who seek help, but most will simply live on the streets until they die or find a way out.
