Its Causes Are Many

Homelessness, Mental Illness, and City Ordinances

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

This week, the Iowa Capital Dispatch published an article detailing how the Des Moines City Council is considering an ordinance to fine people $50 (or community service) for sleeping outside. Pete McRoberts, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) policy director, pointed out that “while this ordinance could target anyone, it’s designed for and will likely be exclusively enforced against homeless people,” and advocates say it outright criminalizes homelessness.

It’s no surprise Des Moines is jumping on this issue in light of the June 24^th U.S. Supreme Court ruling—its biggest decision on homelessness in decades—that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places. The justices voted 6-3 to overturn lower court rulings that previously deemed it cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment to punish people for sleeping outside if they had nowhere else to go. Writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch said, “Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many,” and that federal judges don’t have any “special competence” to decide how cities should deal with it.

The Supreme Court’s decision was a win for the small city of Grant’s Pass, Oregon, who brought the case and urged the high court to grant them more enforcement powers as they, like Des Moines, are struggling with record high rates of homelessness. Their argument was that the lower court rulings tied their hands in trying to keep public spaces open and safe for everyone.

Just this past April, US News & World Report released an expansive new review of data on the subject of homelessness and found that two-thirds of homeless people are experiencing some form of a mental health disorder or illness.

So now we’re not just talking about criminalizing homelessness, but also mental illness once again.

The connection to anosognosia

In June, I started a three-part series on a little-known mental condition called anosognosia, which means “lack of insight,” and in mental health it impairs one’s ability to recognize their own illness. Some three million adults in the U.S. with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) also have anosognosia. I currently have a close family member suffering from an SMI and anosognosia, and he’s been homeless in the Des Moines area for three years now.

Anosognosia is one of the major contributing factors to why my loved one is homeless. Anosognosia prevents him from understanding and recognizing his illness, delusions, hallucinations, and general disordered thinking. It contributes to his chronic unemployment and subsequent homelessness, forcing him to sleep on the streets when a shelter isn’t available (or when his paranoia spikes and he refuses to go to a shelter for safety fears, real or otherwise).

A $50 dollar fine (or community service) won’t cure his SMI, or his anosognosia, or his disordered and impaired thinking processes, or his inability to get and keep a job and secure stable housing. He’ll still be seriously mentally ill, still homeless, and will still have to find somewhere to sleep every single night, no matter how many fines the city gives him.

Applauding and speaking out both

Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham made some interesting points in a Facebook post this week about the proposed ordinance.

She said, in part:

I’d like to applaud the Des Moines Mayor and City Council members for several great things they are doing or plan to do to help our houseless sisters and brothers.

This is not an all-inclusive list:

1. Provided a City of Des Moines EMT to be at the downtown shelter on a regular basis, to provide medical care right at the shelter for people, or connect them with further care.

2. Hired a full-time social worker, based at the downtown DSM Public Library. She’s amazing and has connected our houseless brothers and sisters with many important services.

3. Plan to hire outreach workers to connect houseless people with services.

4. They are arranging for people’s pets to be placed in care while their owner receives treatment or care. (This is sometimes why people won’t go to treatment or do other services, they can’t bring their dog.)

. . . It’s important that we understand that people, all people, are complex. And we can appreciate some things people do and we can, at the same time, speak out against other things that we believe are counter-productive and misguided.

With Graham’s excellent points in mind, I do agree with one thing Justice Gorsuch said. The causes of homelessness are many and complex, from mental illness to sky high housing costs and beyond. And I also agree with Grant’s Pass that cities should strive to create safe public spaces for everyone. But this proposed city ordinance is horribly counterproductive.

Painfully counterproductive.

Ignorantly counterproductive.

Why?

Because there is no evidence this type of proposed ordinance has resulted in reducing homelessness in any other cities that have enacted one.

It’s also important to note there are existing laws to address issues related to homelessness like public urination and defecation, vandalism, harassment, trespassing, and so on.

So if these ordinances banning public sleeping don’t help, what does?

• More affordable housing.

• More shelters with fewer barriers to accessing them.

• Housing that heals

• MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Des Moines City Hall

The Des Moines proposal moved on to the next level at the last city council meeting because there were not enough votes to waive the second and third readings. They needed 6 of 7 votes to pass it and got 5 of the 7. Which means it will require further public comment and more voting.

The next city council meeting is August 5th.

Des Moines friends, I hope you consider attending to voice opposition to this proposed ordinance. ~

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My next column will be the final in the series, Anosognosia Part IV: dealing with severe cases, HIPPA laws, and possible involuntary treatments.

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