VICTOR JOECKS: Coddling the homeless isn’t compassionate

On Friday, the Nevada Senate Government Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear Senate Bill 155. Sponsored by Democrat Sen. James Ohrenschall, it would severely limit the ability of cities and counties to crack down on the homeless. The homeless would be free to rest and shelter on public property as long as they weren’t blocking others from passing. Any local ordinances that violate the act — such as a Las Vegas ban on homeless camping — would be voided.

This bill might as well be called the “Homeless Homesteading Act.” If passed, it would lead to an increase in tent cities. The homeless would have free rein to take over parks. They would continue to spread out in drainage tunnels and on vacant lots. It would even be harder to keep the homeless from sleeping on sidewalks.

If you need to see how this ends, look at cities along the West Coast, such as San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. In many places, the homeless have all but taken over. Tents line the sidewalks, freeways, parks and other vacant areas. Drug and substance abuse is rampant. There’s a major trash problem and even danger from fires.

This is a disaster for most residents. Instead of playground bullies, parents have to worry about their kids finding used needles at the park. Feces fill the streets. Local businesses have to deal with broken windows and worse.

“We’re just seeing constant vandalism, constant drug use in public, people passed out on the sidewalk, people having psychotic breakdowns,” Dave Karraker, a San Francisco business owner, told SFGATE last year.

This lawlessness is dangerous. On Tuesday morning, tech executive Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App, was stabbed to death in San Francisco. It appears to have been a random attack in a “good” part of San Francisco.

This is what happens when state and local governments let homelessness spiral out of control.

You aren’t a bad person for wanting safe and clean public places. That’s something local governments are supposed to provide. That necessitates limits on their use. This is normal. Drivers are free to use the freeway but people aren’t allowed walk down the middle of it. Public spaces require rules that will allow the public broadly to use and enjoy them.

The homeless industrial complex, however, will try to make you feel guilty for even noticing the unpleasantness of rampant homelessness. Don’t fall for it.

Indulging homelessness is the worst thing that can be done for someone trapped in a cycle of addiction or mental illness. Wasting away on the streets isn’t a “lifestyle” choice. It’s the slow-motion destruction of the most precious thing in the world — human life. Las Vegas has empty shelter beds because too many of those who need them prioritize their addictions over getting assistance.

If you want to care for the homeless, don’t coddle them. Make it harder to live on the streets than to get the treatment and help they desperately need.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.