In today’s society, homelessness is a serious issue. When the National Alliance to End Homelessness went out during the evening hours of a random January night, they uncovered over 564,000 Americans living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, and in subsidized transitional housing.
In March of this year, Ben McAdams, the mayor of Salt Lake City, took to the city’s street to witness the homelessness that many of his citizens had been experiencing firsthand.
On March 24th, 2017, instead of leaving the office and returning to the comforts of his home, he teamed up with Patrick Reimherr, the county’s director of government affairs, to spend 3 days and 2 nights undercover as a homeless man.
McAdams has been quick to clarify that the event was not a publicity stunt. He tells The Salt Lake Tribune that it was a “fact-finding mission”; he hoped to use the insight he gained to find flaws in the city’s homeless services and to help recommend a new shelter location.
Although the mayor knew that the city’s Rio Grande neighborhood was rife with drug activity and violence before setting out that day, seeing it with his own eyes made it much more real.
“That was shocking to me,” he tells The Salt Lake Tribune.
Equipped with only a small tarp, a cell phone, and a bag of clothes, McAdams and Reimherr set off. Their first night was spent on the street.
McAdams was hoping to find out why people would sleep outside instead of the easily accessible Road Home shelter.
He later learned the people were sleeping outside to avoid the gunshots and drug deals that would present themselves directly outside of the shelter’s doors.
Many of the criminals that loiter near the Road Home shelter are not homeless themselves, nor are homeless people their primary target for sales.
The Salt Lake Tribune explains, “Dealers set up shop in the area because out-of-state visitors can easily access it from Interstate 15.”
But even the shelter itself was not as accessible as McAdams had anticipated, he himself being turned away that Saturday afternoon. Although he managed to get a mattress at 6 p.m., he tells the Salt Lake Tribune:
“I didn’t feel safe, I absolutely did not feel safe.”
From the top of his 3-person bunk, McAdams witnessed drug use, fights, and thievery, even hearing a sleeping man’s head hit the cement floor after the man was yanked off a cot that somebody had previously claimed as their own.
One of the things that stood out to him the most were the families.
He saw one couple with a nine-year-old girl. She asking her parents where they were going to eat and sleep, and they didn’t have an answer.
He tells The Salt Lake Tribune, “She’s the age of one of my kids. It’s heartbreaking to see a young child who’s growing up in those circumstances.”
As a result of his homeless experience, Mayor McAdams has been reinvigorated to fix the flaws in the city’s systems— his first priority, which was moving families out of the harsh shelter environments, was accomplished on July 15th, 2017.
As of this time, the construction of three additional Salt Lake City shelters is scheduled for June of 2019.
McAdams, who displays an inspiring devotion to his community and the individuals within it, says, “It’s about doing the right thing for people who are in crisis […] I ran for office to make a difference.”
While a difference was definitely made, it’s fair to say that this kind-hearted mayor’s efforts went way beyond anybody’s wildest expectations!
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