Michael Knowles: Letting people live on the street is not showing compassion

Wherever Michael Knowles goes, homeless problems seem to follow.

When he lived in New Haven, there was the ‘Occupy New Haven’ movement. When he moved to lower Manhattan, there was ‘Occupy Wall Street.’ And when he headed for Los Angeles, the homeless population sprung upward there as well. So it comes as no shock to him to see Seattle’s homeless numbers skyrocket.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is visiting Los Angeles, where they’re using giant tents to house the homeless. Knowles said it’s just another example of cities incentivizing lawlessness. When you give people an opportunity to live on the street, Knowles said, they will take it, which is not helping them. He quotes former-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in saying ‘living on the street is not an acceptable position, it harms the individual and it harms society.’ Knowles, a California resident, said in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the law hasn’t changed, but the enforcement of the law has changed.

“I know there is the feeling that we should be as nice as we can to people, that we should be compassionate, but they need to go get help,” Knowles said. “They should try to get their lives back on track. If they need mental health help, they should be brought to places where there is mental health help. If they’re criminals, they should go to prison. The one place they shouldn’t go is a tent on the street.”

Knowles said the Left wants us to believe that allowing people to languish in misery and decay on the street is compassionate, when in reality it only harms them and our civilization.

They’re looking for a little Band Aid for a problem that runs a lot deeper.