Disastrous?

Over the past year the city and county of Salt Lake has committed extra police, taxpayer

money and many community resources to clean up Rio Grande and hopefully resolve the

homeless issue. The homeless issue in Utah was thought to be nearly solved, then it changed

and evolved into a something else. Fueled mostly by the presence of illicit drugs, crime and

mental problems. In Salt Lake we are

faced with a new issue and some would

consider our approach to be a step back.

The initial approach, often referred to as

housing first. Provided immediate stable

housing for homeless individuals and

families. We were able to reduce our

chronically homeless by 91 percent, a drastic reduction that put Utah in the spotlight. Over

time we neglected other aspects of homelessness, not only is housing a critical aspect of

solving it, but we missed the drug trade that was growing in the background. Allowing

certain areas to become dangerous and a place where crime could flourish.
 Figure 1 Officers patrol Rio Grande Street
Over the past 6 months Operation Rio Grande was

implemented, the main objective was to simply clean up the streets. One of the biggest

misconceptions was that the street was made up of predominantly homeless individuals.

Although many of the people on the street are in fact homeless, the majority of people

occupying it are drug dealers, addicts and criminals. The initial report after the operation

were quite staggering, it included the amount of drug dealers arrested (75 persons.), stolen

vehicles stolen (20.) and drugs seized (over 20lbs of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine

and heroin.).

During the 14th annual

homelessness summit which

included experts on homelessness,

Utah legislatures and service

providers from around the country,

Utah leaders explained the motives and logic behind Operation Rio Grande. Iain De Jong, a

national expert on the issue disagreed with the operation and its motives. During the event
one of his Tweets read “Programs & policies that impact substance users & homeless persons

need experts on the issues not naive legislators.” (Piper 2017) Attending the summit

representing Utah, were Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, Speaker of the House Greg Hughes, Salt

Lake City Mayor Jacki Biskupski, homelessness advocate Pamela Atkinson and Josh

Romney. Some find the presence of Josh

Romney a conflict of interest on the

matter, considering that he owns a real

estate development company, which may

have interest in the land where the Road

Home sits. The Road Home is scheduled

to close in 2019. The current proposal is to build 3 new shelters that will house roughly 700

individuals combined, which is 300 less than what the Road Home is capable of now.

The problem with Operation Rio Grande, a problem that a lot of service providers and

experts agree on, is policing the homeless to get rid of them. The problem is that you

increase the jail population, by removing them from the streets only for them to be released

and right back on the

street, often times in

worse condition than

before. They

immediately relapse if

they were previous

addicts, which many of

them are. It can be

effective, but there has to be a mixture of both. We need to police the streets but also have

social resources that take them into housing and provide additional resources to treat them

and get them back on their feet. The Operation is called a disaster by some critics, claiming

that Utah has taken a step back form our once progressive strides in the housing first

approach. It’s a hard choice to make as a community, do we de-criminalize, provide social

resources? Or do we enforce and potentially cost taxpayers more due to jail costs,

prosecuting costs and labor costs for police officers, public defenders etc.

The main problem I see with our approach to the issue other than demonizing and

criminalizing the homeless, which I agree will only make the issue worse, is the 3 proposed

shelters that are being built. I’m still not understanding the logic behind closing the Road

Home down to make way for whatever development that is potentially being planned. The

Road Home services up to 1000 people on busy nights, and we are paying 52 million dollars

for 3 shelters that will house 300 less individuals combined. The argument that is for

building them, is that they will house other resources that the Road Home doesn’t have room

for, which I agree could potentially make a difference. Wouldn’t it be easier to just build a

single office building that

housed all of the different

agencies or resources for the

homeless and keep the Road

Home open? I think that

would be the better option

and I’m sure it would be far

less expensive that building

3 different shelters in 3 locations. To me it seems like a political move to get the homeless

out of downtown Salt Lake and move the problem elsewhere, to build or develop that area

into more apartments, high rises or something that is more appealing to visitors. The problem

is turning into an image problem rather that a people problem, the focus should be on how

we can help people and do it in a way that is cost effective to the taxpayers and produces real

results. With these proposed shelters I fear we are not solving the issue, rather moving it

from one part of the city to another.

 Works Cited

Hartman, Taylor. “Staggering Totals Released of Op. Rio Grande Drug Busts.” fox13now.Com,
7 Feb. 2018, fox13now.com/2018/02/06/staggering-totals-released-on-op-rio-grande-drug-
busts/.

Piper, Matthew. “Leading Homelessness Expert Calls Operation Rio Grande a 'Disaster'.” The
Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Oct. 2017, www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/10/12/leading-
homelessness-expert-says-operation-rio-grande-is-a-disaster-at-annual-utah-summit/.

Schulzke, Eric. “Is Utah Still a Model for Solving Chronic Homelessness?” DeseretNews.com,
Deseret News, 28 Apr. 2017, www.deseretnews.com/article/865678779/Is-Utah-still-a-
model-for-solving-chronic-homelessness.html.

Smith, Doug. “One Size Doesn't Fit All: In Salt Lake City, a Community Rethinks How It Helps
Its Homeless.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2017,
www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-utah-shelters-20170707-story.html.