Too often, communities respond to homelessness with handcuffs instead of housing. People sleeping in parks or camping in the woods are ticketed, fined, or even jailed. Panhandling ordinances, loitering laws, and sweeps of encampments treat survival itself as if it were criminal behavior.
But homelessness is not a crime. It is a crisis. It is the result of a system where housing costs rise faster than wages, where mental health and addiction treatment are too scarce, and where people with disabilities are left without adequate support. Punishing people for their poverty does nothing to solve the conditions that put them on the street in the first place.
The truth is that criminalizing homelessness only makes the problem worse. Arrests and fines create records that make it harder to secure housing or employment. Constant displacement means people lose contact with service providers and medical care. Public resources are drained on police response, jail time, and court costs, instead of being directed toward real solutions.
At New Beginnings, we see every day that people experiencing homelessness are not problems to be managed, but neighbors with potential. With a safe cabin, case management, and community, residents stabilize their health, secure income, and take steps toward permanent housing. Studies across the country confirm what we witness: supportive housing works. It keeps people stably housed, reduces public costs, and restores dignity.
The alternative is clear. We can continue to cycle people through jails and ERs, or we can invest in homes, healthcare, and community. The first path criminalizes poverty and deepens despair. The second path ends homelessness and gives neighbors a future.
Homelessness is not a crime. It is a call to action—and together, we can answer it with solutions that bring safety, stability, and belonging to everyone.
