I keep wondering who is determined to be the winner in this situation, and on what grounds. Surely not the city, because they use limited resources interrogating, harassing, arresting, booking, jailing, feeding, guarding, releasing an innocent man and then defending their behavior in a subsequent and appropriate lawsuit, pursued by the innocent only when the rational no longer reigns. The media, the business community, the City Council, the Mayor all carry the water, all convince the public crowds of the righteousness of their acts. So, since we cannot name them guilty by virtue of their poverty, a former President suggested we make them guilty by virtue of their choice. Ah, yes, homeless by choice.
Homelessness is the guilt of our truth.
Homelessness is born of choice - our nation's and cities' and rural communities' choice to not insure living wage incomes, affordable housing, needed health care, job training, employment opportunities, and housing and treatment for those disabled. It's a situation we never expected to be in. We know it shouldn't be happening. We also know criminalizing such poverty is simply stupid. Civil society no longer looks like such.