Progressives and Homelessness – Columbia, South Carolina Criminalizes Homelessness In Unanimous Vote

And so it begins! This is horrifying – also scroll down to read about the elderly…

"According to ThinkProgress, clients at the shelter will not be allowed to leave the premises without permission and a police officer will stand guard at the road leading to the building.

“[This is the] most comprehensive anti-homeless measure that [I have] ever seen proposed in any city in the last 30 years,” Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing at the National Coalition for the Homeless,"

In SC you don’t get a choice. The police will round you up, the citizens will rat you out and once you are in you can’t leave without permission. This isn’t a hostel or group home this is a locked camp with armed guards

So this is the friendly progressives solving a problem by locking it away. Clients aren’t kept under lock and key patients and prisoners are. The progressives are the eugenicists reborn.

Huffington Post – Updated on Aug. 22, 2013 at 3 p.m. EST

City council members in Columbia, S.C., recently voted unanimously to criminalize homelessness.

Concerned that Columbia has become a “magnet for homeless people,” and that businesses and the area’s safety are suffering as a result, council members agreed on Aug. 14 to give people on the streets the option to either relocate, or get arrested, according to the city’s “Emergency Homeless Response” report.

Cooperative homeless people will be given the option to go to a remote 240-person bed emergency shelter, which will be open from September to March. The shelter will also be used as a drop-off for people recently released from prison and jail, too.

A hotline will be set up for passersby to “report” a homeless person that needs to be removed, additional police will be dispensed to monitor the streets and vans will escort the homeless to the shelter.

While some advocates have decried the decision, council members say it’s a “temporary” solution that will eventually lead to a more sound resolution.

"This is stopgap," Councilman Cameron Runyan told WISTV. "This is going to open up a window of opportunity for us to come together as a community to develop a long-term response to this problem. This problem has plagued us for a generation and a half at least."

But even this “temporary fix” presents some unaddressed issues.

For one, there are an estimated 1,621 homeless people living in Columbia and the surrounding area, 25 percent of whom are members of families with children, a figure that could overwhelm the designated shelter.

Advocates are also concerned about the fact that these homeless people will, in essence, be “locked up” upon arrival.

According to ThinkProgress, clients at the shelter will not be allowed to leave the premises without permission and a police officer will stand guard at the road leading to the building.

“[This is the] most comprehensive anti-homeless measure that [I have] ever seen proposed in any city in the last 30 years,” Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing at the National Coalition for the Homeless, told ThinkProgress. “Using one massive shelter on the outskirts to house all a city’s homeless is something that has never worked anywhere in the country.”

Wayne Fields, CEO of the Oliver Gospel Mission in Columbia, told The Huffington Post that a lot of people are “unhappy” about the decision and whether they intended to or not, the council members are giving off an alarming message to the homeless community.

“The impression this gives is that they don’t want homeless people in Columbia at all,” said Fields who was away when the decision was handed down, but said the organization that’s been serving the community for 25 years has gotten a number of calls from concerned donors.

Fields also noted that while such a drastic decision may be directed to homeless people who aren’t open to getting help, it may actually drive away clients who are trying to get their lives back on track and will interfere with agencies, like his, that are making a difference.

But a number of other cities have taken such punitive measures as of late.

Just last month, Tampa Bay, Fla., passed an ordinance, which will allow police to arrest people sleeping on the streets and put them behind bars.

There, many argued that such a measure both punishes the taxpayers and the homelessness.

"It costs roughly $50 a day to incarcerate one homeless person for one day. And during the last homeless count that took place, we had 356 homeless people in jail," Amanda Mole, editor of the Tampa Epoch, told HuffPost Live. "With those numbers we spent about 6.6 million dollars a year in Hillsborough County alone just on incarcerating the homeless."

Columbia will likely also face some financial struggles as a result of its decision to criminalize homelessness.

According to the homelessness report, running the shelter 24 hours a day, seven days a week for seven months straight will cost the city $1.7 million. But the emergency plan has so far budgeted only $500,000.

However, some downtown business owners say that it’s time to pour more money into tackling the problem, since homelessness advocates have been "wasting" their resources.

“As small business owners on Main Street we see first hand how the homeless crisis is affecting the city,” Jessica and Joe Kastner, owners of Paradise Ice, said according to the report. “Unfortunately it seems the people who make their living off of caring for the homeless are the ones making all the noise at these meetings. They’ve had 20 years to fix the problem and it has only gotten worse thus ensuring their paychecks stay safe. Please think about the everyday citizens, the revitalization of Columbia and the safety of everyone.”

Something’s definitely up!!

Various Godlike Predictions Comments on the above article:

God Help Us: A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit an assisted living facility for my mom. The man that I met with (a local rep. of this local, private-pay entity), after it was decided that she would not be able to go this that facility, told me that "Oh, your timing is just right. The federal government is starting something new so that ALL persons who need assisted living will have somewhere to go.

He said beginning at the end of this month (Aug. 2013), that program of which he spoke will begin taking applications for the NEW program. He said that they are making a place FOR ALL to have a place to go to for assisted living. HMMMM?!? Fema Camps?

My first reaction (while listening to him), was that – oh – federal government where "all people can go" – what kind of genocide might this be? Of course those were my immediate thoughts, and I did not say anything – just listened to this MIRACLE. Not!

I thought I’d mosey on up to the address that he gave me however and see what in the heck it’s about. I could not find it during the heavy traffic time. Frankly, since then, I lost interest and lost my desire to make such a drive.

Could THIS also be what the fed. gov. has in mind for the elderly? Because of this thread I will have to go take a look now, because I must know what this is all about; I will go and see next time they’re open.

I feel like something is definitely up – the homeless, the elderly and possibly what you mentioned – the mentally challenged and disabled… and then eventually those who disagree with the government.

Nothing would surprise me. This New Order has no use for these people, the ‘useless eaters’ as they call them. They probably only want the physically fit and mentally and physically able for the slavery tasks. Good thing they got this FLPOTUS program called "Let’s Move" and trying to change the school kids’ menus at lunch time. Reminds me of Hitler’s Youth.

Sorry to go on like this, but I am a bit upset by this but honestly not surprised at any of it!

Progressive Watcher: So if you are poor and you have a family you go to FEMA camp with just released prison ex inmates? And come to think about it, if you have been released from prison, why would you be put in a camp? Haven´t you paid your debt to society already?

The Wonderer: And I wonder how many people will be mistaken as homeless, like the drunk guy who passes out in someone’s yard? Or the disgruntled neighbor who calls on the guy down the street?

Too Convenient: Well… In Santa Monica (a very liberal progressive city where “Hanoi Jane” Fonda’s Ex, radical Tom Hayden, was their Congressman) and the west side of Los Angeles, all of the homeless have been …somehow…removed over the past year…. They were all over..camped out at pacific park…a bluff above PCH and there were always helpers on bikes giving out food and water …for years! And also…at the smaller little parks…they were kind and not crazy…I gave out water to them too. Now…. ALL GONE!!! Soooo..where did they go?????? No one knows

And…I ran across something VERY creepy while researching Strategic Operations – a company that stages "hyper realistic" drills and training – they recruit crisis actors from homeless shelters. How realistic is "hyper realism"??? Thread: Homeless people disappearing in SF, CA! WTF?!?

So much for your liberal tolerance.

And, where’s the churches? Where’s the Joel Olsteens? The Joyce Myers? The Coplands? The Mega money churches? Why aren’t the churches involved with some kind of action? Aren’t the churches suppose to take care of the needy and the poor? And stop this kind of abuse?

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