The decision was prompted by concerns from business owners who believe homeless people are a threat to their bottom lines. The thriving city has plans to develop a 181-acre campus, which ironically used to house the state’s psychiatric hospital.
But these types of “not in my backyard” policies don’t actually address the reasons why so many people are chronically homeless.
At any given time, there are many more people with untreated severe mental illness living on America’s streets than are receiving care in hospitals. People with untreated severe mental illness constitute roughly one-third of this country’s homeless population. The quality of life for these individuals is abysmal. Many are victimized regularly. One study found that 28% of homeless people with previous psychiatric hospitalizations obtained some food from garbage cans, and 8% used garbage cans as a primary food source.
Simply evicting the homeless population from Columbia will not solve the problems that many homeless people face. If the city really wants to help its bottom line and improve the lives of residents, it should focus more on providing treatment to those suffering in the streets.
“You’ve got to get to the root of the problem: why we’re homeless,” said Jaja Akair, a homeless man who spoke during a City Council session on the plan.
We agree.
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