Helping and pretending to help

 Our county commissioners passed an ordinance that prohibits homeless people from camping in public places.

It was so bad it was almost funny.

Dekalb County is not a place that hates poor people. Most people are not philosophically opposed to spending public money for the common good. Most do not think that our social problems can be solved by more aggressive policing.

However, the problems involving people with mental illnesses and drug addictions are real. Constituents complained, and so the commissioners had to appear to be doing something.

The new law authorizes police officers to arrest people who camp on sidewalks, parking lots and other public places. But before the officers make an arrest, they must follow a long checklist. Was the person accused of illegal camping aware of the law? Had he been previously warned?  Was the person informed of resources available to the homeless? It’s a long list.

The law in unenforceable. I can say that with confidence because I spent decades watching communities try and fail to address similar problems in Texas.

The community that did the best work was Galveston. It followed the advice of my friend Ted Hanley, executive director of The Jesse Tree, a volunteer organization.

The program worked because it acknowledged that people who are homeless generally have more than one problem. Most have problems with mental health and addiction. But many also have chronic problems, such as diabetes and hypertension. They collapse in public places and end up in ambulances and emergency rooms.

Ted convinced the community that it could save money on police time, ambulance runs and emergency-room visits if it invested in prevention.

It’s a long story, but the breakthrough was a universal application form. The Jesse Tree offered hot meals and canned foods. When homeless people came, volunteers helped them fill out a form that all social service agencies would accept. Volunteers could steer vulnerable people — people who weren’t good at taking care of themselves — toward help.

This was incremental improvement, rather than a solution. But things were observably — even measurably — better. (Police calls and emergency room visits are measurable expenses.)

Perhaps the biggest change was in the people who felt a responsibility to help.

When I’m accosted by a person asking for money, I usually see a problem, rather than a person. Should I give this person a couple of bucks for food? Or am I just contributing to an addiction?

The Jesse Tree taught its volunteers to look at the individual. If you didn’t know the person asking for money, perhaps you’d give him the benefit of the doubt and give him some money. But if the same person stood on the same corner with the same hard-luck story for years, you probably should keep the money in your pocket.

Sometimes, I’d get a ride from someone and see a box with bottled water, packages of nuts, bananas and other healthy snacks on the seat. I took it as a small bit of evidence of change, good change.