'Tale of two cities': Ousting homeless proof Columbus leaders care only for rich | Opinion
Joe Motil is a lifelong Columbus resident and 37-year neighborhood, economic, and social justice advocate. He is running for mayor of Columbus in 2023.
The recent Dispatch article about the city’s eviction notice for the homeless who are surviving at Camp Shameless on East Mound Street, is one more example of the mayor and City Council’s reluctance to create policy and assistance to our increasing homeless population.
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A 2021 CBS "60 Minutes" news story on Columbus, Ohio’s homeless crisis exposed to rest of the world, Columbus' “tale of two cities” and the United States' second-most economically segregated city.
The exposure of this news story did not move city government toward addressing our homeless citizens' right to decent housing. Yet Mayor Andrew J. Ginther continues to refer to Columbus as an “Opportunity City” despite its daily contradictions.
City officials unfairly cite the homeless volunteers for lacking a permit to construct a small, open-air wooden structure on taxpayer-owned property. Although the lot was occupied by residents for the last four months, they are now being charged with trespassing.
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Additional claims of sanitation issues, substance abuse, and other illicit activities were also reported.
Such health issues, drug deals and other Illicit activities take place in properties across the city daily, and citizens’ complaints to the city and Columbus Police Department are ignored routinely.
But a homeless encampment only a stone’s throw away from the gentrifying surrounding neighborhood around Nationwide Children’s Hospital, on the other hand, warrants immediate action.
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Since 2019, only between $150,000-$200,000 of city of Columbus taxpayers money has been spent on “remediating” homeless encampments across the city
Yet, in May 2021, Columbus City Council gave $875,000 of Community Development Block Grant funds to the Capital Improvement Crossroads Special Improvement District to purchase three public restrooms for downtown Columbus. The overall costs of those three restrooms will be $1.26 million.
One of the four themes used to allocate Community Development Block Grant funds is housing for special-needs populations, which includes support for homeless programs and maintaining safe and sanitary housing.
But yet the city remains unwilling to spend even a dime to provide porta-johns for their fellow human beings living in encampments, let alone 5-to-10-yard dumpsters. At the same time, they wonder why sanitation issues exist.
Article VIII, Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution states that it is in the public's best interest and a proper public purpose for the state and its political subdivisions to provide or assist financially, housing, including shelters to provide temporary housing.
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If our elected officials and departmental staff spent even a fraction of their time learning about housing initiatives for the poor and homeless, in contrast to months and months enacting tax abatement policies in exchange for a handful of set-aside units for their campaign-contributing luxury real estate developers, we could provide some hope for our fellow citizens in acute need of decent housing.
Joe Motil is a lifelong Columbus resident and 37-year neighborhood, economic, and social justice advocate. He is running for mayor of Columbus in 2023.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: Evicting Columbus homeless from camp reveals city priorities
