The homeless have human rights, too

The Editorial Board of the Enterprise-Record can rest easy: When it comes to the latest “homeless plan” — in the context of a multi- decade affordable housing and social services crisis — there are plenty of “teeth” designed to “get” the “unsheltered” out- of-sight; that is, binding them to whatever high- density, low-budget human warehousing we supply.

Anyone on the streets runs afoul of laws crafted to ensnare; this we rightly call “criminalization.” The E-R and our good citizens can count on our city to spend millions more, every year, on profiling, rousting, ticketing and arresting. In this environment, the homeless cannot escape the relentless pressure of the criminal justice system, pushing them toward any alternative to nightly police harassment and the ordeal of Butte County Jail.

The other “teeth” are those of deprivation: In the Marbut model, now used in Chico, we “dry-up” as many Matthew 25:35- 40, “non- conditional” sources of food, clothing, toiletries, blankets, sleeping bags, tarps, etc. As can be imagined, any person literally starving or freezing will be induced to accept de facto incarceration. Expect more deprivation as the Jesus Center soup kitchen goes from moribund to nonexistent, per the “plan” now in execution.

Of course, these are blatant human rights violations. Disturbingly, our local helpers, harm-reducers, Christians, leftists, liberals, academics and medical and legal professionals remain quiescent and complicit, while vocal commercial interests and authoritarian homeless haters “own” our council meetings — loudly endorsing a morally bankrupt reign of error.

— Patrick Newman, Chico