The man who leads Elkhart’s homeless shelter is praising the city’s common council for passing a ban on camping on public property Monday night.
By now you’ve likely heard the news: under a bill passed Monday night by the Elkhart Common Council, the city can now ban the homeless from camping on public property. The city must give 48 hours notice and keep items for at least 60 days before disposing of them.
But you might be wondering whether the homeless shelter serving Elkhart, Faith Mission of Michiana, can handle an influx of clients if that happens. The ordinance only allows people to be moved if the shelter has space available.
Aside from roughly 200 clients involved in Faith Mission programming, Executive Director Mike Perez says their nightly shelter has about 72 beds. On a typical night Perez says there are about a dozen openings.
Perez says he likes the ordinance because it could nudge the chronically homeless, especially those with addictions and mental illness, to get the help they need to become housed.
"You cant' just live in the shadows and live outside. This might be a little political in a sense but you can't infringe on other people's rights because you feel that you have the right to live in a doorway, or go to the restroom in a doorway. There's all of us trying to live in the community so we have to live together, and there are places for you to go."
