Housing Not Jail campaign wants to prevent the City of Grand Rapids from adopting proposed ordinances that would further criminalize the unhoused

Over the past six weeks, the City of Grand Rapids and some of their committees have been discussing proposed policy decisions that would negatively impact those who are unhoused in this city. 

In May, we wrote: 

At the Public Safety Committee’s May 23rd meeting, members of that committee made some pretty awful comments about the unhoused and those struggling with mental health issues.

Just two weeks ago we wrote: 

Now the City of Grand Rapids is proposing new ordinances in order to deal with the unhoused, which they see as a nuisance. On top of that, the City’s ordinance proposal shares some of the same language and punishments directed at the unhoused that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposed 6 months ago. However, the City of Grand Rapids will not adopt the proposed ordinance before allowing the public to weigh in at their 2pm meeting on July 11, a meeting which is conveniently at a time when most people are unavailable. 

The City of Grand Rapids made this decision to host a public hearing during that June 13th meeting of the Committee of the Whole. You can read the newly proposed ordinance language at this link, beginning at page 109. It is worth reading these new proposals side by side with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposal, which you can find here.

In response to these proposed ordinances, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union and a coalition of other grassroots/autonomous groups have organized a campaign called, Housing Not Jail. The Housing Not Jail campaign not only opposes the proposed ordinances that the City of Grand Rapids is considering, they highlight what is fundamentally wrong with the proposals with these talking points:

• The proposed City ordinances will further criminalize the unhoused, with fines they will be unable to pay and jail time, simply because they are asking people for money or for having their possessions with them in certain public spaces.
• The proposed City ordinances do not address the root causes of people being unhoused, primarily the decades of federal, state and local government austerity measures that have nearly eliminated the safety net for people who are financially insecure.
• The City of Grand Rapids is adopting some of the same language as the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance from last December. These similarities are designed to criminalize the unhoused and to protect the economic interests of the downtown business community, essentially profit over people.
• The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the many of the 120 signatories in support of the Chamber ordinance proposal, have contributed a great deal of money to candidates/politicians over the years that have implemented economic austerity policies, while simultaneously cutting taxes for businesses and the wealthy.
• The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has provided campaign contributions, amount included, to the following City Commissioners who will ultimately vote on whether or not these ordinance proposals will pass: Commissioner Robbins – $10,500, Commissioner O’Connor – $750, Commissioner Ysasi – $1250, Mayor Bliss – $1350.
  

You can take Action to oppose these proposed ordinances

Write an email by going to this link, sharing on social media and getting your friends to do the same thing. tinyurl.com/HNJEmail 

If you are part of an organization or know of organizations to approach, have them sign the statement at this link: tinyurl.com/HNJStatement

Come and speak at the public hearing on Tuesday, July 11, during the 2pm Grand Rapids City Commission meeting. Details can be found here tinyurl.com/HNJHearing

Graphics created by Aly Thee Activist