July 10, 2021
To Mayor Alcott and the Bowling Green City Commission:
It is not the role of government to fix social ills, like homelessness, nor is it your role, as our elected leaders, to solve this problem for our community.
Past attempts by the City to address this issue have failed, evidenced by Bowling Green’s role in Kentucky’s Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, a plan written by the Kentucky Council on Homeless Policy in 2005.
This does not mean that we should abandon the homeless. We should support churches and organizations that are closest to this population and who serve them best.
The City should:
- Develop good policy aimed at strengthening the fabric of our community.
- Implement policies that build and support the role of local churches and organizations that serve the homeless.
- Facilitate a discussion about revitalizing the South Central Kentucky Coalition on the Homeless.
- Coordinate with local law enforcement to enforce existing ordinances and implement a city-wide campaign to discourage pan-handling, redirecting individuals to local agencies.
- Reexamine the current zoning plan to determine whether it provides an opportunity to revitalize blighted areas, and whether it adequately entices developers to build multi-unit affordable housing.
- Examine policy initiatives in other communities like Houston, Texas that have made significant, meaningful strides in tackling this issue.
Government is an impersonal institution that cannot address the personal and individual needs of those who are temporarily or chronically homeless. These vulnerable people need a human connection and a social network that not only provide material needs, but also emotional, moral, spiritual and familial needs. These services are best provided by people, like the tireless volunteers and employees that embody organizations and churches devoted to the homeless in our community.
Sincerely,
Tonja Tuttle, Warren County Conservatives