GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – While some businesses have joined together in order to call upon the City of Grand Rapids to consider new ordinances pertaining to the rising homeless population, officials have rejected the suggested ordinances.  

Several of the suggestions from businesses were to “adopt an ordinance to regulate appropriate access and use of the public right of way and solicitation,” the Dec. 6 letter said, “We, the undersigned employers and residents of Grand Rapids, urge you to take immediate action to promote the safety, health and well-being of unhoused individuals, residents and all persons working in or visiting the City of Grand Rapids.” 

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The businesses and residents who signed the letter recognized that the problem was not just particular to Grand Rapids but one that many cities across the nation are facing.    

“The goal is to promote better outcomes for all through appropriate regulation acting to encourage the use of available services, prevent the incentivization of unsafe activities in public spaces and protect individuals from the fear and intimidation by regulating the time, place, and manner for the use of the public right of way and solicitation,” the letter said. 

Still, despite public safety concerns such as public defecation, harassment, assault and other issues on a too-often basis, according to Josh Lunger, Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Government Affairs, the commission is not taking any new steps to address the homeless population.  

Those who oppose imposing new ordinances on the homeless of Grand Rapids view the proposed ordinances as a form of criminalizing their lifestyle. 

“We have not seen the kind of necessary investments in this segment of our community from the city of Grand Rapids. And that’s a failure on our part,” a citizen member of the Public Safety Committee, Kyle Lim said, “(To) move towards or even considering ordinances that would further penalize those community members, I think is an outrage.”

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Chamber officials do not see the refusal of the new ordinances as a loss, but progress.  

“It’s caused a great conversation I think,” Chamber President and CEO Rick Baker said, “We’re ready to stand with them in partnership and continue to address this issue.”

Other states such as Texas, Washington, New York, Florida, and California are also struggling to accommodate the growing and increasingly violent homeless population in their cities.  Recently, the newly elected California Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on her first day in office to address the roughly 40,000 homeless people in the city.