While a handful of homeless and their attorney, Anthony D. Prince, challenge a controversial city ordinance with a federal lawsuit, a prominent local homeless advocate is worried the fight may be focused on the wrong issue.
Jill Allen, executive director at Dorothy’s Place, says that although protecting homeless’ property is important—something the city intends to sweep off city property starting March 22—the focus should be on giving homeless people a healthier way of living.
“Our focus is to give people an option to encampment living, because encampment living isn’t healthy—there’s no way it is ever going to be healthy,” Allen says.
“The issue [Mr. Prince] is focused on is getting people to stand their ground in encampments which is not healthy living,” she adds.
During a press conference on March 11, Prince said homeless people living in the Chinatown area should push back against the city’s willingness to enforce its controversial ordinance.
“We are not going to collaborate and we are not going to cooperate when they plan to push everyone out of Chinatown,” Prince said.
Prince’s last effort to keep the city from conducting sweeps—a motion in federal court requesting a temporary restraining order against the city—was denied by a federal judge on March 16.
Once the sweeps are conducted, an estimated 200 homeless people will be displaced, but the city’s plans to fix the issue long-term remain elusive. Dorothy's Place is hoping to address the long-term issues.
“We realize that one of Mr. Prince’s points is: Do we have enough housing to put people into housing right away? And well, that is a secondary issue. The primary issue is figuring out what a person actually needs, and then we look at what their housing options are,” Allen says.
“I can’t think of where we would open doors and put 200 people right now,” she says, “but I can think of where we would maybe house 50 people right now. And that’s a start.”
The 50 beds Allen is referring to would be a combination of recovery and transitional housing, plus apartment units that would take Section 8 vouchers.