PERRY: ‘Tough love’ in dealing with homeless in Aurora means ‘bad luck’ for everyone

It is safe to say that regardless of political and philosophical views on homelessness, everyone agrees that the best thing that can be done in the face of this growing and ongoing crisis is for homeless people not to be homeless.

It is heartbreaking for much of the population of Aurora and the metropolitan area that so many people, thousands in number, risk their lives almost daily without having a home or even the back seat of a car to sleep in.

Large parts of Aurora are also fed up with the often dangerous roadside encampments that encroach on residential areas and become breeding grounds for drug abuse, crime and destitution.

And whatever some people say, almost all homeless people would much rather live a life with the bathroom, food, security and shelter from the elements that a home provides.

With everyone working toward the same end goal, it is especially disappointing that Aurora and the Metroplex continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars without even coming close to achieving our shared goal.

Aurora lawmakers have a new old idea: “tough love.”

This 1960s philosophy that “Father knows best” has been applied to pretty much every social and personal ill. The general idea is that hurting someone for their own good is more compassionate than simply showing compassion or accepting their dysfunction.

When I went to school, it was a big deal and kids would get “grounded” or even arrested by the truancy police for constantly skipping school.

The idea that you have to be “cruel to be kind” appeals especially to people who see the world in black and white. Everything revolves around choices and consequences.

It is an extension of “He who spares the rod spoils the child.”

The problem is that these are not children.

These are real people who have no place to live. Many of them suffer from serious mental illness, physical health problems or addictions. They are not living on the streets begging for a few dollars to buy meth, bourbon or fentanyl because they are spoiled. They are sick, sometimes so sick that they are almost at the end of their rope.

The idea that these people simply don’t know any better and only need to draw attention to themselves through fear of prison is old-fashioned and completely unrealistic.

This is not just my opinion, nor is it just the opinion of an army of homeless activists and workers who see for themselves every day what works and what doesn’t.

Numerous verified studies consistently show that forced or prescribed treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is ineffective.

“The evidence does not, by and large, suggest that forced treatment leads to better treatment outcomes, and some studies even suggest possible harm,” concluded seven experts in a 2016 analysis of nine qualified studies that looked at a “hard” approach to forcing addicts to give up their addiction.

I understand how this philosophy is attractive to some people. It is based on the idea that people will pull themselves together when faced with dire consequences, such as having to stay in their room without a television or even losing everything.

At their worst, some people quit drinking to save their marriage. They quit meth to save their job. They quit gambling to keep the house.

But most of the time people keep drinking, keep gambling, keep taking meth and lose everything.

And what’s worse: many of these homeless people have nothing left to lose. They have nothing. Nothing.

For some, a few weeks in prison is no bad thing. It’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It’s safer than waking up under a bridge and seeing someone steal the few things you have. It’s a respite from the hard life that so many people go through without a home.

Addictions are a huge hurdle for anyone, but especially for those who have already hit rock bottom.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be at least a handful of homeless people in Aurora who will be put in the right place at the right time to escape their problems, find a job and a home, and rejoin the rest of the rules-playing community.

But what’s really going to happen is that the vast majority of the homeless people who are camping along streets, behind parks, and under viaducts will be moved to another street, another park, another viaduct. They’ll probably be moved to Denver or further afield. And the homeless people from those communities will be moved here.

Many will go to jail – most likely on warrants for failure to appear in court – spend a few weeks there at extraordinary taxpayer expense, and then find a new place to camp.

It’s sad that Aurora finds itself exactly where it was a few years ago when much of the same city council implemented version 1.0 of Tough Love.

We all want the same thing. It seems that with such a solid common goal, it would be easy to work together to achieve it. Maybe next time.

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