It was Aug. 20, 2013, and I had just gone to sleep for the night on a bench off U.S. 2 in Gold Bar outside the gas station. I slept with one eye open, because I worried an officer would drive by and arrest me.
According to a Homeless Point in Time count conducted in 2014, Snohomish County has more than 1,300 homeless people. I have been one of those people. It is hard to find a place to sleep, not only because Monroe, like many cities in the state, lacks sufficient affordable housing and shelters, but also because city ordinances force the homeless to carry out survival activities on the street and in public spaces.
I don’t think implementing laws that criminalize homeless people is an effective solution to the issue. Students at Seattle University analyzed this information and found that communities across the state of Washington have created 288 ways to punish people who are homeless. The analysis also includes the cost of enforcing such laws, as well as the actual groups that homelessness affects.
In the report, Professor Sara Rankin states “We often use the law to purge visibly poor people from public space. As long as we pretend that homelessness is a problem that should be addressed through the criminal justice system, we are not really addressing the root problems of homelessness and poverty.” This system not only fails to address the root problem, it’s costly as well.
The report also estimated that the City of Seattle would spend $2.3 million over the next five years enforcing only 16 percent of the ordinances that criminalized homeless. If that money was invested into housing, 55 people could be helped each year and taxpayers would save $2 million annually.
According to the Washington state Department of Corrections, the estimated cost to house a single person per year is $43,144.
As stated in an article from the New England Journal of Medicine, a person who is homeless and is hospitalized costs approximately $2,414 more per hospital stay than a non-homeless person.
Homelessness causes more health issues, and people are less likely to seek medical attention right away.
Some would say that if homeless people put the same efforts they put into panhandling, into finding a job, then they could work their way out of being homeless. The truth is that people cannot get jobs when they have been wearing the same clothes for days and haven’t had a shower and the only thing on their mind is where they will get their next meal or where they are going to camp out that night without being harassed by the police.
The research is clear: It is far less costly to taxpayers to provide permanent housing to the homeless then to not help them.
The City of Monroe has been active in trying to help out with housing affordability. During a phone interview with Monroe mayor Geoffrey Thomas, he said, “If you see somebody that is in need and you feel called to give to that person, it should be your choice to give to that person. And there are some cities that have now adopted laws to make it difficult to do that. I don’t see us going that route here in Monroe right now. What I see is us trying to help connect people with resources so they have good, safe places to live.” Thomas also expressed interest in learning more about the homeless issue in our community and further exploring solutions to helping those in need.
A Housing First model shows that housing the homeless first without questions asked, and then getting them involved in services after, has shown phenomenal results. As the other studies have shown that doing this would be more cost effective to the state and to taxpayers. I would rather pay taxes towards housing the homeless, instead of criminalizing them. People need support through hard times. It is rare for someone to come out of these situations on their own without any help. I was homeless myself at one point, and I couldn’t have emerged without the support of others. Today I have a beautiful life, I go to school and I give back to my community the way that my community gave to me when I so deeply needed.
Kristina Jorgensen is a Monroe resident and advocates for Housing Hope and the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance.
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