Homeless navigation center won't do much good — unless we compel help for mentally ill, addicted

When does a problem become big enough to do something about it?  When I walk down the cement ramp at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway's Mountain Station, there are occasionally state park employees in noisy, motorized carts bringing supplies up and down in the “silent” wilderness. Problem, yes. Worth doing something about? Nope.

What about our homeless friends? Almost everyone agrees that there is a problem and that something needs to be done. The ultimate answer Palm Springs has is the navigation center, which will be available in a year or so. But what about today? Right now? Go for a walk and talk to the folks who have set up residence on the bus stop in front of the new Starbucks on Ramon. Then go check out the campground behind Walmart or go downtown, wake a nice person up and have a chat. Then when you are finished, go to your car, turn on the air conditioning, go home, fix a sandwich, go for a swim and maybe take a nap. What can you do to help them? These are people — human beings that spend their time outside during our brutal summers.

There are cooling shelters. However, almost all require the homeless to leave by early evening. There is one place for overnight lodging. The Well in the Desert provides food, as does Martha’s Kitchen — as well as a shower, clean clothes and a cot. The United Methodist Church provides their Fellowship Hall. This is good for 30 people. What about the other hundreds that are spending the night by a dumpster or under a creosote bush? No room for them.

Palm Springs has facilities. For instance, the Pavilion was used over the July 4th weekend for families to swim, picnic, watch movies, baseball games and fireworks. Our homeless visitors were encouraged to be somewhere else.

What can we do? Maybe the first question is why are they here? If you drive around our valley, you don’t find many outside of Palm Springs. There appears to be something about Palm Springs that attracts large numbers of homeless people. They choose to be here instead of someplace else.  What if they could be encouraged to be somewhere else? One option would be for Palm Springs to talk to these other cities and find out what they are doing to not attract them. Another option would be to bus them to, say, Santa Monica. At least it wouldn’t be so hot when they are sleeping rough.

We know that won’t happen. We want to help them. I’m sure when it is finished the navigation center will be first-rate. Think about that for a second. What do homeless people do when they find a place that serves food? Where they can use a restroom? Stay out of the heat? They tell their friends. The Methodist Church serves food to over 200, and it is all by word of mouth.

Palm Springs doesn’t build substandard anything. The navigation center will be a place that homeless people will talk about and tell their friends. That means the navigation center could become quite an attractive nuisance. Those that want to be helped will get the help they need. Those that are mentally ill or addicted or “Kings of the Road” will take whatever the center offers and tell their friends.

What is the conclusion? As long as our society will not permit forceful assistance for those who are mentally ill or addicted, nothing we are currently doing or planning on doing in the future will accomplish anything.  The more we provide, the more we care, the more options we create, the more homeless people we will attract that we cannot help.

Richard Clapp is a resident of Cathedral City. Email him at rclapp75@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs' plan for homeless is incomplete