"Homeless Need Compassion, Not Criminalization"

Ormonde Plater, at Through the Dust shares a letter from Episcopal Deacon Lydia Hopkins to the New Orleans City Council Housing Committee. An excerpt:

Elaine and I both had an opportunity to speak and Fr. Baer read the Bishop's letter, listing most of the names we had available this morning. The consensus--apparently shared by Ms. Midura and Ms. Head by the end of the meeting--was that criminalizing homelessness will NOT help to solve the problem, and that housing, social services, and case management must be in place before there is any serious talk about forcing the homeless off of the streets.

Unfortunately, the chair of the committee was not present, nor were there sufficient members present to take a vote.

The full text of Hopkins' letter is at Ormonde's site and at EDOLA, the website of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

Bishop Jenkins' letter:

Homeless need Compassion, not Criminalization

Dear Members of the City Council,

We write to you today to express our grave concern over the proposed ordinance on public habitation, section 54-419 of the City Code.

Please know that we are not bystanders offering our opinion on the work that others are doing. We, along with countless other members of the community, have been actively involved in ministry to the homeless and precariously housed in our city. We provide food and clothing to those living on the streets; we assist with re-housing efforts as well as the transition from FEMA trailers to permanent housing; we provide case management services and resources to help families remain housed; and we help to rebuild homes for the most vulnerable members of our community. We see first-hand the varied factors that contribute to the homelessness crisis, and our experience has taught us that the homeless need compassion, not criminalization. A simplistic “quick fix” as proposed in this ordinance will only exacerbate the dire conditions that are keeping residents down-and-out.

The failure of our community to develop and implement a comprehensive affordable housing strategy in the wake of unprecedented disaster is a communal failing. Yet this ordinance penalizes only those individuals who have fallen through the cracks—and we expect that there will be many more yet to come.

Furthermore, the ordinance will divert precious city resources to policing and jailing the destitute, at a time when our city is in the grips of a wave of violent crime and our jails are stretched to capacity.

We call on you to adopt a policy that affirms the dignity of every human being in our community, including the homeless.

We believe that our limited resources can be more compassionately and effectively utilized to house rather than criminalize the homeless.

We ask you not to pass this ordinance.

We stand ready to work with you and offer our experience, our time and our energy in order to draft a comprehensive, effective, and ethical solution to our city’s homelessness crisis.

In faith and hope,

Rt. Rev. Charles Jenkins
Bishop, Diocese of Louisiana

Rev. Jerry Kramer
Rector, Church of the Annunciation

Rev. Jim Quigley
Rector, St. George's Episcopal Church

Rev. Lydia Hopkins
Deacon, St. George's Episcopal Church

Rev. Elaine Clements
Deacon, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Nell Bolton
Exec. Director, Office of Disaster Response
Diocese/ACT

Shakoor Aljuwani
Community Organizer
Diocese/ACT

Amen, amen, and amen!