6/26/25
Before I begin, I’d like to emphasize that we should have empathy and compassion for the homeless. They are, of course, human beings who are largely victims of circumstance. Despite what some may believe, most of the unhoused did not choose to be that way, but rather fell victim to some combination of drug or alcohol addiction, mental illness, and economic hardship.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I’d now like to argue that we need to get tougher on homelessness. My apologies for the abrupt transition.
No one will deny that homelessness is a growing problem in our cities. What used to be a major issue primarily in expensive coastal metros like San Francisco is now widespread. For the most part, authorities leave the unhoused alone. It is not illegal to be homeless, and most municipalities do not go out of their way to devote police resources to cracking down on encampments.
At the risk of sounding heartless, I’d argue that they absolutely should. Many homeless encampments are, in fact, bastions of criminal activity. There is nothing improper or unjust about law enforcement arresting people for breaking the law. Shooting up heroin in the middle of the day under a freeway is illegal in virtually every jurisdiction. I’m simply arguing that the police should get serious about enforcing existing laws when people openly and flagrantly violate them in public spaces. This is neither a reactionary position nor one that lacks compassion.
In fact, I would argue that a hands-off approach is itself grossly lacking in compassion. There is nothing compassionate about allowing people to rot away on the streets while our cities become reservoirs of dysfunction.
There is nothing compassionate about allowing drug addicts to feed their habits in broad daylight while children and families are nearby.
There is nothing compassionate about simply looking the other way while someone has a psychotic episode on a sidewalk.
There is nothing compassionate about allowing public facilities—buses, subways, libraries, and parks, which are disproportionately used by working-class citizens—to feel unsafe and unclean.
Before you accuse me of claiming that we can arrest our way out of this problem, I want to be clear: I support greater funding for mental health treatment, more investment in public housing with wraparound services, and so on. Ideally, these services should be available as a first resort before law enforcement ever gets involved. But the truth is, services are often refused, and it is legally very difficult to compel someone to accept help. In some cases, arrests become the only option available to maintain order.
A solution to the homelessness crisis will require both carrot and stick. Right now, we have too little of both. But in many progressive jurisdictions, it seems that some policymakers believe we can solve the problem with carrots alone. That is a fantasy.
One last critique I'd like to anticipate: many progressives would argue that by arresting homeless individuals, we are in effect criminalizing poverty, and that the real solution to homelessness is to reduce inequality and expand economic opportunity.
This is wrong on two levels. First, no one is claiming that homeless individuals should be arrested simply for being homeless. Homelessness is not a crime. What I’m saying is that we should no longer take a hands-off approach toward those who openly and flagrantly break the law in public. Public drug use, defecation, nudity, and disorderly conduct should not be tolerated in a civilized society. If you or I committed these acts with any regularity, we’d be arrested. The homeless are not a special class of citizen to whom the law does not apply.
Second, we cannot wait to solve every broad societal problem before we allow ourselves to enforce laws. That is a recipe for never enforcing them. Perhaps it’s true that if we solved inequality, homelessness would disappear. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, I’d like our cities to be clean, functional, and safe.
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