Council Must Be Active Partner In Whitmire's Homeless Plan-Democracy Begins At Local Level

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Mayor Whitmire has announced an effort to get homeless people off the street. He says it is also about actually reducing homelessness.  

From the Houston Landing:

"Houston will revamp its strategy to address homelessness by opening resource hubs across the city aimed at getting people off the street and expanding the civility ordinance city-wide....The new plan aims to put people in stable housing immediately by keeping beds available, partnering with police to get residents to the resource hubs and increasing outreach to unhoused individuals throughout the city...Part of the strategy already is in effect in the downtown area. To continue, the city will need to enact ordinance changes, get $45 million from outside sources for the first year and successfully petition the state for a mechanism to create an ongoing source of funding.....The city already has committed $25 million for the first year, Housing and Community Development Director Mike Nichols said. The team will petition Harris County for another $20 million, $15 million from philanthropic organizations and $10 million from other governmental entities.... “We’re going to adjust the laws to humanely and firmly get people off the street,” Whitmire said. “You don’t get arrested for being homeless. Let me emphasize that that’s not a crime. We are going to change the ordinance that you can’t sleep on the streets.”...The city previously could not expand the civility ordinance due to legal challenges, but a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling appears to uphold bans  on “public camping,”meaning cities or states can fine people sleeping on public streets or sidewalks."  

Here is the 45 minute press conference from November 21st where Mayor Whitmire announced his plan. Above is a picture from the press conference from the HTV broadcast of the event.  There are no elected officials on the platform with the Mayor. Houston City Council must be included in the development and execution of this plan.

Houston City Council District F member Tiffany Thomas was the only Councilmember I saw who offered a perspective on Mayor Whitmire's plan. She asks a number of important questions. Just as significantly, Councilmember Thomas asserts the right of councilmembers to question the mayor.  The assertion of Council's right to offer solutions and to be heard, was a big reason I strongly supported the efforts of four councilmembers in early October to raise city taxes to help the city pay for storm recovery efforts.

John Whitmire sometimes acts in autocratic ways and he must be checked.   

Here are some questions and observations I have about Mayor Whitmire's plan:    

1. Why does our so-called "Civility Ordinance" only apply to the most poor in Houston? The Civility Ordinance regulates only the conduct of people who may well be homeless or otherwise down on their luck. Anyone who travels on Houston streets knows that acts of incivility span all classes of people. A person lying on the sidewalk is subject to a violation. The Range Rover driver who runs a light and almost gets you killed just goes on their way. If we are going to regulate "civility", shouldn't everyone be held to the standards applicable to living in a good society?  

2. Mayor Whitmire in his press conference discusses the large number of homeless people at the main branch Houston Public Library downtown. Mayor Whitmire brought up the terrible state of the restrooms at the main branch library. He's right. The library must be open and welcoming to all. At current it is not. This must be addressed.  

3. Mayor Whitmire says his initiative is about "reclaiming public space."  It is odd to hear this from the Mayor. Mayor Whitmire has attacked the right to protest in public space, gutted the fee meant to encourage the construction of sidewalks & works every day to make city streets less safe for pedestrians and bikers and more open to speeders and aggressive drivers. Mayor Whitmire has been no friend of Houstonians looking to make full and best use of public space.  There is no reason to trust his view of what makes for good and safe public space.     

4. Mayor Whitmire must not get a pass from Council on crafting this plan. There must be aggressive questioning from Council. Active and effective democracy in Houston and the nation needs to be restored from the bottom up at the local level. 

Mayor Whitmire is talking about getting money from the State of Texas for this plan. That might be fine. But there must be questions about a City of Houston homeless policy contingent on approval from our far-right state government.    

​I'm not an expert on homeless policy and I'm not offering policy suggestions. What we all have the right to expect, is a Houston City Council that is an active policy partner on such an important concern. Without this involvement Mayor Whitmire will simply do whatever he wants.  

Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.
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I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

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