These cities' feigned compassion making drug and homelessness crises worse

Homelessness and drug addiction are often inextricably linked, presenting a critical challenge in many big cities, including my hometown of San Diego. 

There, I took to the streets to begin my year-long journey to understand why so many veterans are homeless and how we can truly help them. The reality is that we have 1.3 million veterans who are either homeless or on the brink, and we lose more than 109,000 Americans to drug overdoses yearly, many of whom are homeless. 

Cities like San Diego, San Francisco and Portland exemplify the relationship between drugs and homelessness and highlight the urgent need for comprehensive policy changes for long term success.

A paramedic helps a homeless woman in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2022. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Instead of pumping resources into unsuccessful transitory housing, we need to establish what I call "Base Camp" – infrastructure providing housing/camping but also essential services like hygiene facilities, a cafeteria, therapy, purposeful work opportunities, and long-term support. This would provide a longer runway for takeoff into successful sobriety and reintegration. 

CALIFORNIA STRUGGLING TO GAUGE EFFICACY OF HOMELESS CRISIS SPENDING

It would also foster a sense of personal and group accountability within the recovery community rather than leaving people to fend for themselves. It would reduce waste by using allocated resources for programs that are more likely to lead to long term success rather than the current "pay and pray" system.

Our homeless neighbors, especially our nation’s selfless veterans, don’t just need a house. They need help.

In San Diego, I was shocked to see drug dealers operating openly and working seemingly regular 9-5 shifts. Locals reported at least 45 overdose deaths per month, with bodies unceremoniously removed from the streets where they lived and died. 

According to them, "No one cares more than to drop off Narcan so we can save each other’s lives." A meaningless handout from a society that doesn’t care to address the underlying and related issues that landed them on those streets in the first place.

HOMELESS PEOPLE NEED MORE THAN A HOUSE. THEY NEED SOMETHING MONEY CAN'T BUY

Next, I visited San Francisco’s Tenderloin district with local activist Tom Wolf and found myself again shocked. We walked for many blocks, stepping in feces and dodging syringes as we weaved through hundreds of people in a zombie-like state. 

Wolf explained that more deaths occur inside transitional housing here than on the streets due to a lack of oversight, accountability and support, thus perpetuating a cycle of death and reallocation of housing. This speaks to the failures of basic transitional housing programs, which seem to be the standard "solution" to the homelessness crisis.

I traveled on to Portland, where Measure 110 was recently passed, reducing penalties for drug possession to a mere $100 ticket and making drug use largely legal. 

A well-known local homeless activist met me and my son as we uneasily parked in a deserted downtown area. We were instructed to be very aware of our surroundings, watching the ground as we walked and not touching anything.

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Here, we witnessed the consequences of the falsely compassionate policies currently being pushed as supposed "solutions" for drugs and homelessness – parts of the city looked like scenes straight out of apocalyptic movies. 

The lack of enforcement and accountability for these policies and programs has resulted in public spaces littered with garbage, human waste and drug paraphernalia. Addicts and the homeless sleep in trash, masturbate and defecate in public, verbally and physically assault one another, and openly use drugs.

One woman told us that she has an apartment but chooses to sleep on the streets with her friends. She explained, "I have been on the streets so long, being inside is a lot of responsibility. I know how to keep clean out here, how to brush my teeth, how to make food. I don’t trust myself inside." 

Another explained, "We have tried these 28-day [housing] programs, they don’t work, why even bother. If I go inside, they will throw away my stuff and I have to start again."

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As I bent to speak with her, another woman began to smoke fentanyl right above my head. At the smell, Kevin told me to stand up and walk away, insisting, "You’re going to get too high to walk." 

Almost instantly, my son and I became dizzy and my heart raced. After calming down, I was furious! As a mom, citizen, and woman trying to do some good in the world, I couldn’t believe this is the America we live in now and to which we’ve relegated our homeless veterans.

My experiences and conversations on these big city streets highlight the failings of programs that are hyper-focused on transitional housing. Transition without transformation is futile. A house isn’t all that’s needed, thus transitionary housing alone is not the solution. 

If you value our society, our veterans and our fellow men, I challenge you to vote with your senses, not your emotions. 

Rather than being woke, be awake to the reality of what these supposedly compassionate programs are doing – or not doing – to solve the unprecedented drug and homelessness crises our nation now faces. We all deserve better.

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Kate Monroe is a Marine Corps veteran, CEO of Vetcomm and author of "The Race to Save America."