EDITORIAL: Clark County must enforce ban on homeless encampments

As any parent could tell you, if asking nicely doesn’t work, you must move on to consequences. Clark County is finally doing just that.

At the beginning of the month, Clark County’s homeless camping ban went into effect. This follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year in which the majority ruled that municipalities have leeway when crafting homeless policy, and that includes enforcing ordinances intended to get people off the street.

Under the Clark County law, people are no longer free to live on public land, such as parks, underpasses and tunnels. The Metropolitan Police Department now has the ability to jail people who ignore the statute for up to 10 days.

This is a rational solution to a significant problem. In recent years, de facto tent villages have sprung up throughout the valley. In some places, homeless individuals have made parks and sidewalks mostly unusable for the public.

Rampant homelessness degrades community amenities, especially in low-income areas. This is especially tragic because those families have fewer options and less ability to move.

But the point of this law isn’t to put people in jail or to criminalize homelessness. Incarceration is a last resort.

When police come across violators, they must first offer them information on shelters and other services. A homeless person can avoid being arrested simply by moving along or opting for a shelter bed. Police won’t enforce the law if space isn’t available at a public shelter.

But if they refuse the offer of assistance, police have the ability to enforce the law. “I wouldn’t look at this decision as a question of jailing homeless people,” said Devon Kurtz, a policy analyst with the Cicero Institute told Bloomberg News after the Supreme Court decision. “I would look at it as authorizing law enforcement to engage with homeless people with the threat of punishment.”

Indeed.

In fact, anyone who is arrested under this provision has actively refused to go to a shelter. That’s a choice, not a judgment on someone’s living preferences. In reality, most homeless people have an addiction, a mental illness or both. It’s not compassionate to let them wallow in destructive behaviors that also have a deleterious effect on members of the public simply trying to go about their business or enjoy amenities such as public parks.

The Clark County ordinance offers an incentive for those on the street to get the help they need, while giving law enforcement a tool to enhance public safety. Clark County and Metro should ensure this ban is enforced.