Vice, Nov 18, 2019: Actually Supporting Homeless People Does Not Mean Housing Them Yourself
“Sir, let me ask you, where do you live?”
A police officer asked the seemingly banal question of a person—Mission resident Taylor Ahlgren—who was filming a homeless encampment eviction in San Francisco in a video released in October. When told they lived two blocks away, the cop’s emotions boiled over. “Okay, wanna give her [the evictee] your address and we can put her in front of your house,” the clearly frustrated officer responded, dripping with sarcasm. “How about that?”
It’s a talking point I’ve heard and seen many times in response to my own reporting on homelessness, albeit never before by an officer of the law. The simpler version is: “If you care so much, how many homeless people are you housing yourself?”
It’s trolling, obviously, but also an attempt to guide the question away from structural inequities into one of personal responsibility. It’s along the same lines as believing people “choose” to be homeless, which resolves in that old chestnut about whether or not you’re actually helping or hurting someone when you give them your pocket change. (Please note: You’re helping.)
Indeed, most homeless advocates have heard the above bullshit question more times than they can remember. But solving, or at least alleviating, homelessness isn’t an impossible proposition. In fact, it’s fairly simple, right there in the name itself.
