Editorial Board
Hiding the Homeless Won’t Solve the Problem
An executive order from the White House fails to grasp the broader issues.
Unacceptable.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
The White House has promised swift action on homelessness. It aims to dismantle encampments, force addicts and the mentally ill into treatment, and yank federal funds from cities that refuse to police tents and open-air drug use. For residents exasperated by sidewalk squalor, that sounds like overdue toughness.
In reality, casting the homeless as nothing more than a public nuisance understates the crisis and diverts money and attention from the broader solutions that are needed.