HASTEN EFFORTS TO CURB HOMELESSNESS

Through the 1980s, politicians and civic leaders stood by while, in
city after city, the ranks of the homeless increased. The legions of
pathetic men and women --- drug-addicted, mentally ill, dispossessed
living on the streets became both a discomfiting reminder of the
gap between the haves and have-nots and a symbol of the underbelly of
the urban experience.

By the 1990s, however, most major cities had begun to initiate
innovative programs and approaches to help the homeless, including
temporary shelters, job-training programs, substance-abuse treatment
centers and roving social workers who took help to those who needed
it. By the end of the last decade, many cities had made a dent in the
problem of homelessness.

Not Atlanta.

Despite the valiant efforts of a few nonprofit groups and civic
leaders, including Atlanta City Councilwoman Debi Starnes,
homelessness remains a grave problem in downtown Atlanta. It not only
hinders efforts at downtown gentrification but it also shortchanges
the region's most vulnerable citizens: those homeless Georgians who
are beset by a range of problems and cannot help themselves.

It is impossible to stroll through Five Points' Woodruff Park,
renovated and re-dedicated with much fanfare in 1995, without
stumbling over an "urban camper" --- a homeless person who has made
the park his home, complete with cardboard shanty and newspaper
bedcovers. Walk through Fairlie-Poplar, easily downtown's most
architecturally charming area, and you'll encounter men sleeping in
doorways or begging for change.

The next mayor, whether Gloria Bromell-Tinubu, Shirley Franklin or
Robb Pitts, will have a host of pressing assignments: straightening
out the delivery of basic services, cutting costs at City Hall,
cracking down on crime and tackling the costly issue of rebuilding
aging sewerage. But curbing downtown homelessness must also be a priority.

Happily, that can be done rather easily. All it takes is a little
determination and the courage to face down the soft-hearted but
muddle-headed homeless advocates who decry any effort to point to the
obvious problems of drug addiction and mental illness that plague many
among the destitute.

The effort has to start with retooling the "quality of life"
ordinances that the city gave up on in 1999. After a federal court
tossed out some parts of the law against urban camping, city police
stopped trying to enforce the parts that remained valid.

The Atlanta City Council should go back and rewrite the ordinances
that ban living in public parks, aggressive panhandling and harassing
of pedestrians. Laws can be crafted that protect the constitutional
rights of the homeless while still protecting office workers and
tourists who ought to be able to take lunch on a park bench without
being subjected to constant panhandling.

After the ordinances are rewritten, every single sworn Atlanta police
officer should be given a training course in enforcement. Equally
important, social service organizations should send out specially
trained social workers to work with the police --- social workers who
can provide referrals to shelters, accommodations for the mentally ill
and substance abuse treatment for the drug- and alcohol-addicted. The
solution is not to place the homeless in jail, but to get them to the
resources they need.

The good news is that, during the last decade, Atlanta did manage to
increase the resources available to help the homeless. One of the most
important facilities is the year-old Resource Opportunity Center ---
called "the Rock" --- on Decatur Street, where homeless men and women
can receive referrals and services from eight agencies.

In addition, a coalition of public and private leaders, including
Starnes and Cascade United Methodist Church pastor Walter Kimbrough,
has pushed forward the idea of construction of transitional housing
around the city. The first of these quarters, Hope House, expected to
house 70 residents across from Atlanta City Hall, should open in a few
months.

These are all big steps toward getting the homeless off the streets.
The next mayor need only quicken the pace.