This summer will mark eight years since the state of Utah, led by then-House Speaker Greg Hughes, initiated Operation Rio Grande, a concerted effort to clean up the area surrounding the Road Home homeless shelter on that street and to set up a new system for helping Utah’s down-and-out.
A major premise of that operation was that homelessness was a statewide problem, not just a Salt Lake City one. Hughes pushed for state funding to help build human resource centers, and police departments from several jurisdictions joined in the effort to clean the Rio Grande area, which had been wracked with violence, including murder, in the summer of 2017.
Part of the push was a coordinated effort with local business leaders and with the philanthropic community, including a $10 million donation from Gail Miller and her family seeking matching grants from others. The matching grants were achieved and Utah’s three new homeless resource centers in the Salt Lake area were constructed.
And so it is dismaying to see that little progress has been made toward alleviating the problems attendant with homelessness in the state’s capital city.
State leaders, including Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams, sent a strongly worded letter to Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall recently, calling on her to either find ways to “eliminate crime and restore public safety” or to submit to legislative solutions.
Schultz told the Deseret News/KSL editorial board that public safety is a local issue, not one for state government. He said “it’s frustrating to me that Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County are choosing to put their budgets in other areas rather than focus on what’s most important and the citizens of the state expect, and that’s public safety.”
Yet, despite the rhetoric in the letter the mayor characterized as a “directive,” both state leaders and the mayor’s office appear to be cooperating to find solutions, and that is heartening. Perhaps the best way to describe this is as a statewide problem and city and county responsibility.
Mendenhall said a large percentage of homeless people enter the system and are helped back into society relatively quickly. Utahbusiness.com reports that 80% of those who enter an emergency shelter spend 90 days or less in the system.
Homelessness is not an easy problem to tackle. It is complicated by many different facets, from medical needs to the reluctance of some to use public shelters to mental health issues and the lawlessness often perpetrated by people who see homeless people either as potential victims or as cover for their own crimes.
Few problems are more difficult for public officials to solve, and few things better define how communities integrate compassion with toughness. Unsheltered people are human beings in need. They come from communities throughout the state, and often beyond. They deserve dignity and respect. They deserve help, including medical help and counseling. Sadly, some commit crimes, and some become crime victims. These problems must be addressed appropriately.
The solutions that attended Operation Rio Grande improved and cleaned up a significant part of Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, that was just a start, particularly in a growing state.
Salt Lake City officials and others across the nation have held up Miami as a place that has made steps in the right direction. Reason Magazine quoted Ron Book, the chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, saying homelessness there has gone from about 8,000 unsheltered people in the early ‘90s to a headcount of 1,032 a year ago.
However, Dade County also has enacted tough ordinances against the homeless, and police regularly sweep encampments away. The same magazine piece reported how the city paid $300,000 to settle a lawsuit that arose over improperly trashing homeless people’s property.
All factors must be considered and aligned with Utah values.
In response to the letter from state leaders, Salt Lake City’s mayor has unveiled a plan that outlines 27 recommendations for the city. These include the creation of a Community Impact Division within the police department, which would increase the police presence on downtown streets. They include a Violent Criminal Apprehension team to confront gangs and remove drugs and guns from the streets.
The plan also provides city property for a temporary campus facility to alleviate the shortage of 1,000 to 1,600 emergency shelter beds, and it would expedite the development of deeply affordable housing.
Those unsheltered people who avoid city resource centers would be particularly targeted for their often complicated needs.
Mendenhall said the plan will require commitment from all levels of government.
The plan also lists 23 recommendations for other entities, including the Utah Legislature and Salt Lake County. Some of the costs will be borne by revenue from a fee the Smith Entertainment Group will attach to ticket sales at Delta Center events — fees intended to revitalize downtown. The plan also calls for legislative appropriations.
The best part of the plan is that it was drafted in cooperation with state leaders. All sides seem anxious to cooperate.
But this problem is not easy to solve. Money is not the sole problem, as evidenced by the millions spent since 2017. An accounting of where specifically that money was spent would benefit further allocation of resources.
We’re glad public officials are not giving up the fight. We’re glad for the spirit of cooperation. But homelessness and its attendant problems should always be a statewide problem, especially when it concerns the central city area that attracts the most tourists and economic activity to the state.
As the mayor said, taxpayers will pay more with inaction — through law enforcement and acute care — than with a concerted and effective effort.