NWA EDITORIAL | Rejection of a proposal to battle homelessness doesn’t mean it’s the end of the story in Fayetteville

Plan’s rejection isn’t end of story

The New Beginnings facility in south Fayetteville features secure tiny shelters. Solomon Burchfield, program director of the New Beginnings nonprofit group has asked the Washington County Quorum Court for $290,346 to help fund New Beginnings NWA, which provides services to the homeless. Washington County has 42 applications for funding through the county’s American Rescue Plan Act money, with the applications totalling about $30 million. the Quorum Court has said they will make $2.3 million available for community groups and non-profits.  Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery.   (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler)
The New Beginnings facility in south Fayetteville features secure tiny shelters. Solomon Burchfield, program director of the New Beginnings nonprofit group has asked the Washington County Quorum Court for $290,346 to help fund New Beginnings NWA, which provides services to the homeless. Washington County has 42 applications for funding through the county’s American Rescue Plan Act money, with the applications totalling about $30 million. the Quorum Court has said they will make $2.3 million available for community groups and non-profits. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler)


In a community that's opened its heart to homeless people more than any other in Northwest Arkansas, it's perhaps a little shocking to witness the Fayetteville City Council rejecting a proposal to spend nearly $1.3 million to address the suffering among that population.

The vote was 5-3 last week when City Council member Sarah Moore brought forward a proposal to fund a longtime supportive housing plan by the good people at New Beginnings, an organization centered on finding solutions to homelessness. Three members favored the plan that would use American Rescue Plan Act covid-relief money to acquire some form of housing -- duplexes, small homes, remodeled apartments -- that could be made available to the chronically homeless, along with programs to help them restore their lives to a more livable level.

Five members voted to reject the proposal. Does that mean they're heartless, mean-spirited people unwilling to help those among some of the most vulnerable in Fayetteville?

No, not at all. That's the funny -- as in strange or misunderstood, not ha ha -- thing about public policy issues: Well-intentioned people who all agree on a desired outcome can disagree about the path to reach it.

It's worth keeping in mind, too, that the terms "homeless" or "unhoused" don't refer to some monolithic population whose experiences all look alike. They're not often the stereotypical lazy dodger who some people imagine to let themselves off the hook for helping. Some are temporarily without a place to stay because life has hit them particularly hard and they lack a safety net of any kind. Others find places to live, but whether they have a roof over their heads is a daily question, or it may be those who have housing but whose financial situation puts them at risk of losing it at any moment. Then there are those whose disabilities, such as mental illness, make them incapable to function in the ways that helps keep a roof over one's head.

Among the eight council members, the mayor and the many people who spoke at last Tuesday's meeting, it appeared to us that everyone in the room recognized the heartbreaking reality of homelessness and exhibited a commitment to working on solutions.

Sometimes a proposal is just not the right proposal, which five members of the City Council determined to be the case with the New Beginnings plan, for varying reasons. And yes, for some of the plan's supporters, that meant frustration and, perhaps, even anger.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan promised that he's working with several groups to develop a game plan to fight homelessness and hopes to see those ideas gel in the future so that the City Council can consider them. Solomon Burchfield of New Beginnings said he'd spent hours speaking individually with every City Council member, reflecting the level of interest in the subject.

Ideas range from building tiny houses to be rented out for little or no cost to more robust rental assistance to avoid at-risk people losing their decent living conditions because of one bad turn, like getting sick or losing a job. Everyone appeared to agree a robust attack against homelessness would need to address it at many levels.

Fayetteville's vote wasn't cruel or heartless. It will only become so if city officials ignore the problem. It appears to us nobody is prepared to do that.

Whats the point?

The Fayetteville City Councils rejection of one proposal to address homelessness doesn't mean city leaders are deaf to the need.

 


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