Does Homelessness Put the Public’s Health at Risk?

Are U.S. Cities Going to Hell Because of Homelessness?

Homeless camps can often be unclean places because of the lack of trash pickup and bathrooms. Few would deny that living in one, or being homeless in general, comes with numerous health and safety hazards. But does homelessness put the health of the public at risk?

Many people seem to think so, including President Trump. He recently stated San Francisco’s homelessness crisis is causing “tremendous pollution,” mostly due to used needles and other waste allegedly flowing into waterways. He claims San Francisco is allowing this waste to enter the Bay and the Pacific Ocean. On homelessness in general, Trump went on to say, “We can’t have our cities going to hell.”

These statements were accompanied by threats of federal action against California. On Sept. 26, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler sent a letter to California’s governor. He accused the state of not following federal programs designed to keep water safe and clean. He stated these problems stem from the state not doing enough to mitigate its homelessness crisis.

Trump also threatened to have the federal government step in to “clean up” the homelessness problem in California. This talk brings to mind the homeless sweeps that are already happening and causing devastating harm to individuals. They result in those individuals starting from scratch, but the problem remains. They’re still homeless, and just need to find another place to sleep.

London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, denies any link between homelessness and water quality in the city. He said storm drain debris is filtered out at a water treatment facility. He blames the attacks on partisanship rather than a genuine desire to help homeless people.

Is there any truth in what Wheeler or Trump are saying?

Homelessness certainly can pose risks to public safety. San Francisco has created programs with the sole purpose of picking up used needles and cleaning up human waste. These hazards can spread disease if, for example, a needle is stepped on.

However, it’s important to keep these risks in perspective.

Homeless people are not any more harmful to the environment than humanity in general.

Other, greater threats to water pollution are factory farms and coal ash dumps near power plants, for instance. These threats have not faced the kind of scrutiny and criticism that California has for its homelessness population.

In fact, most of the trash found in homeless encampments doesn’t even come from homeless people. Eighty percent of it comes from illegal dumping by property owners who don’t want to pay for waste collection. These property owners and businesses use the homeless camps as “cover” for their actions, knowing that the public will simply blame homeless people.

And it works. L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti said that residents don’t see the difference.

Homeless camp hazards are an unfortunate and unavoidable symptom of the problem. It could be said, however, that human waste is not the problem—lack of access to restrooms is. Used needles may be less of a problem than substance abuse. If we want to make our cities cleaner, addressing the cause of contamination is better than placing a bandage over the symptoms.

If we want to “clean up” cities, and perhaps help homeless people in the process, lawmakers are better off addressing the causes of homelessness. Topics like expensive cost of living, mental illness, and substance abuse are far more worthwhile. Homeless shelters are a much cleaner alternative to homeless encampments, but may not be what partisan lawmakers have in mind.

In the case of President Trump, he’s made it clear he simply believes homeless people are unsightly.

He talks about how they drive away wealthy, taxpaying residents. This is reminiscent of NIMBYism —the notion that homeless people can exist, but “Not In My Backyard.”

The subject of homelessness causing harm to the environment is often used as a tool, along with high crime rates and decreased property value, by NIMBYs. In their efforts to criminalize homeless people, those experiencing homelessness are characterized as pollutants rather than people. Environmental protection laws are often exploited to prevent homeless services from expanding, furthering agendas to simply keep them away.

While there certainly is some truth in what the EPA and Trump are saying, there are far more problems. Their underlying motives are all wrong. At best, the president is more concerned about California taxpayers than its homeless population. At worst, Trump’s remarks amount to nothing more than partisanship and lashing out at his political opponents. Unfortunately, his remarks only serve to further harm homeless people.

Homelessness is not contributing to global environmental concerns. In fact, because homeless people leave such a small carbon footprint, they’re much less likely to contribute than those of us who commute every day in gasoline-fueled cars.

The decline of the environment does create more suffering for homeless people, however.

They’re more vulnerable to every environmental hazard there is, including:

  • Heat waves. Heat is especially dangerous to the 91% of homeless people living in cities, in which asphalt and concrete absorb heat and raise the temperature even higher.
  • Air pollution. Those who suffer from poor health, as homeless people often do, are at an even greater risk of suffering illness or death due to poor air quality.
  • Storms and floods. Not only can flooding be fatal through drownings, but it also spreads infectious diseases.
  • West Nile Virus. Because mosquitoes are more active at night, those who sleep outside are more likely to get bit. Contracting West Nile Virus is even more dangerous for people with weaker immune systems, which homeless people generally have.

With environmental conditions worsening, things are only going to get worse for those without shelter. It’s time our lawmakers stop wasting time talking about how homeless people are hurting the environment.

If they care about the environment, they should pinpoint the true causes of climate change and environmental contamination and take corrective action, no matter how it may affect their voter base.

In regard to homeless people contributing to a hazardous environment, it’s unfortunate lawmakers don’t look to the real solution: ending homelessness. All people create waste. The only difference is having the resources for proper disposal.


Victoria VanTol

Victoria VanTol

  

Victoria VanTol holds a master's degree in social work. She is a therapist and freelance writer specializing in topics related to social justice and mental health.

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