Low-barrier a good option
Chattanooga police Capt. Zachary McCullough said in a Wednesday community meeting that he’s open to the idea of the low-barrier shelter being built on East 12th Street.
“The very first question they [the homeless] ask the officers is, ‘Where can I go?’ and we don’t have an answer,” McCullough, who oversees the sector that includes East 11th and 12th streets, told property owners who live in the Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood area. “While we don’t know what the ultimate result is, we have to try something, and I’m willing to give it a shot.”
We should of course be mindful of the impact that the shelter will have on residential communities in that area. But as the weather becomes colder, it’s extremely important that people experiencing homelessness have a warm place to stay.
We need to give people experiencing homelessness a better option than being removed from a space they’re comfortable in or being taken to jail.