Too many local cities are looking at criminalizing homelessness, despite proven alternatives: Letter to the Editor

As the Sept. 21 Editorial Board Roundtable highlighted (“ Is criminalizing sleeping in public the best way to address chronic homelessness? ”), communities across Northeast Ohio are increasingly responding to homelessness with bans and punitive ordinances. Ashtabula, Mentor, and others have adopted rules that effectively criminalize the behavior of being homeless. Courts may try to distinguish between “status” and “conduct,” but when people have no shelter, that difference is meaningless.

There is a better path. Houston has reduced homelessness dramatically through a Housing First approach — permanent housing combined with supportive services. San Diego, by contrast, continues to struggle while relying heavily on shelters and enforcement. Cuyahoga and Lorain counties, while making progr