Growing up in Chicago, I’ve come in contact with my fair share of the homeless population. People begging for money, for food, preaching their knowledge of the damned, of the end of the world, etc. When one sees the same sights day in and day out, it’s pretty easy to become desensitized to the “everyday” occurrences in our world. If you’ve been to downtown Salt Lake City past 9 o’clock p.m. on any given summer day, you probably know what I’m talking about.

Well, why does homelessness have to be categorized as one of the unchangeable facts of life which we accept with blind, blissful ignorance? During my time in Salt Lake City, I have seen one homeless shelter downtown and one church-affiliated donation center. In a city known for its friendliness, hospitality, and courtesy I was surprised to find such a lack of attention paid to those in less-than-ideal situations.

In an ideal world, the charitable good deed of dropping a dollar into every begging palm we see would be put towards food, clothing, shoes, and other essential items. In reality, however, those few cents could be saved up and added together to buy the typical 40 oz. of beer or a bag of weed. Of course, there is always, unfortunately, the possibility of even bigger drug use issues lurking in the distance. Violence and fear can fester in these environments, and the lack of mental health care in a majority of homeless populations can create an unsafe environment for all of those inside of it, as well as looking on.

Utah has made attempts to reduce homelessness. Since 2005, the average number of chronic homeless went from nearly 2,000 to a mere 200 by 2009, utilizing a program called “Housing First, Employment Second.” The state has saved hundreds of dollars (in the long run) on EMT runs, arrests, etc. The issue lies in the state-wide numbers. While the state of Utah as a whole may have radically lowered homeless numbers, what’s happened to the place where the majority of the populations dwells – Salt Lake City?

I appreciate the efforts to give housing to those with nowhere to go- truly. Helping those in need should be a priority on everyone’s list. But let’s focus on work-study programs along with housing- why promote an exchange of money for shelter? Maybe a fully capable person was placed in a bad situation by their family members and had no choice but to give up their house and possessions. Maybe someone got way too deep into drugs and sold everything to pay for another high. Regardless of how they got there, why not give someone a chance to know that they can impact society for the better, that they can make a difference in their community? That they can achieve and accomplish, all while being able to say, “I did it for myself.”

They key to a strong city is a sense of community. Salt Lake is such a cool place- with the advancement in public transit over the past 8 years, the development of new local and chain restaurants, and countless outlets for adventurers, this city is on the rise. Let’s give it the credit it deserves and not only put it on the map, but keep it there. A team is only as strong as its weakest player, so let’s rattle up the team, practice a few extra hours, and develop these plans and courses of action to make this valley the kind, caring, eccentric mecca of the west that we all know it can and should be.