{"id":364136,"date":"2025-11-10T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenvillejournal.com\/?p=364136"},"modified":"2025-11-10T10:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T15:36:12","slug":"opinion-finding-common-ground-on-homelessness-public-policy-in-greenville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenvillejournal.com\/op-ed\/opinion-finding-common-ground-on-homelessness-public-policy-in-greenville\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Finding common ground on homelessness, public policy in Greenville"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ryan Duerk, Lizzie Bebber and Jennifer Fouse Sheorn<\/em><\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be illegal to be homeless.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, Greenvillians have seen a rise in visible homelessness<\/a>, a complex challenge shaped by many forces. Every day, service providers and city leaders hear concerns about panhandling and people sleeping in public spaces, and we are working together to find real solutions.<\/p>\n

This increase in homelessness stems from multiple causes. Shelters are full because there are too few affordable housing<\/a> options for exits. More people are living with severe mental illness and addiction. Greenville\u2019s growth has displaced long-standing encampments that once offered refuge to those with nowhere else to go. The result is a community-wide challenge that affects us all.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Greenville is not standing still. Through partnerships among nonprofits and with the city, including a new collaborative effort, innovative solutions are helping people find homes and stability. Tonight, more than 500 individuals experiencing homelessness will sleep in a facility somewhere in Greenville County, and over 100 more will enter a cold weather shelter for safety and to escape the cold.<\/p>\n

Our collective goal in Greenville is a national best-practice approach known as functional zero, a system where homelessness is brief, rare, and nonrecurring. It means that for every person who becomes homeless, another secures housing, creating a balanced, responsive system. We\u2019re not there yet but we are united in pursuit of that vision.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 10, the city of Greenville will consider a no-camping ordinance, part of a broader national trend following the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision City of Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/em>. That ruling allows cities to enforce bans on sleeping or camping in public spaces, even when shelter beds are unavailable, reversing the earlier Martin v. Boise<\/em> decision. Since then, municipalities nationwide have grappled with how to balance compassion, safety and order.<\/p>\n

When the city approached us earlier this year, we, the nonprofit service providers who work daily with our neighbors experiencing homelessness, welcomed the opportunity to engage in honest conversation. From the start, we shared three truths:<\/p>\n