LETTER: Camping ban is inhumane
I was deeply disturbed by your Feb. 15 editorial arguing for increased enforcement of Clark County’s homeless camping ban. To say that an unhoused individual can “avoid being arrested simply by moving along or opting for a shelter bed” is to trivialize and ignore the extenuating circumstances that led more than 16,000 people into homelessness this year in Southern Nevada alone.
These circumstances — including unemployment, unaffordable housing and drug addiction — will not be resolved through arrests and jail.
Moreover, “moving along” implies having a safe place to move to. But shelter-based violence — especially for women and the LGBTQ community — can expose already at-risk people to even more danger.
Nevada has one of the greatest shortages of affordable housing in the country. This inability to find and afford housing is a key barrier to people struggling with homelessness.
So it seems that, if Clark County wants to get rid of homeless encampments, it should simply move along and opt for rent control and accessible housing, among the many, many other needs of its vulnerable residents.
