Utahns are not hopeful that the $67 million effort to basically end homelessness in Salt Lake City and County will work, a new UtahPolicy.com poll shows.
“I love being the underdog,” said Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes after being told of the new poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates.
The speaker believes it will, and is anxious to prove it.
Hughes has led the fight against homelessness and the crimes associated with it in downtown Salt Lake City, now with the help of Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski.
Jones asked if recent actions taken by state and local officials will solve the homeless problem in the city.
Only 32 “definitely” or “probably” believe “Operation Rio Grande” will solve the problem.
Nearly two-thirds – 61 percent – said it would not.
And 8 percent didn’t know.
The city’s homeless concerns flared up over the last year or so, but the problems around Pioneer Park and the shelters and soup kitchen providers on Rio Grande Street near 200 South have been around for decades.
Hughes, R-Draper, got involved 18 months ago, leading an effort to provide state monies in the 2016 and 2017 Legislatures.
But joint efforts between the state, county, and city were moving rather slowly when this spring a series of murders, physical attacks, and blatant drug dealing around the homeless led to a renewed push.
While Hughes et al. say they will change the dynamics of Utah’s homeless problem, clearly citizens don’t at this time have their confidence.
Jones finds:
— Republicans are the most optimistic, but that’s not saying much: 36 percent say the efforts will work, but 54 percent say they won’t.
— Democrats are the most skeptical: 69 percent say “Operation Rio Grande” won’t solve the homeless problem, 28 percent believe it will.
— Independents, who don’t belong to any political party: 61 percent say it won’t work, 32 percent say it will.
Hughes understands the frustrations, for he’s felt them before, as well.
“Many folks are justified in their cynicism,” said Hughes. That’s because city officials have tried for years to deal with the homeless, criminal issues around that area.
There have been police sweeps, remodeling of the park, placing more officers in the area, foot and bicycle patrols, local businesses getting involved, all kinds of things.
But as this spring’s violence and drug dealing have shown, the situation has only gotten worse.
“We have already made real gains in the area,” with around 1,000 arrests in several weeks, and now a new drug/alcohol addiction court starting up, said Hughes.
“Phase 2 (after the arrests) is just getting going,” Hughes told UtahPolicy last week.
Phase 2 is helping addicted folks into rehabilitation programs, and getting minor criminals who are also addicted or have other problems into the new drug court diversion programs.
Soon, Phase 3 – getting homeless folks into transitional housing and into job training programs that will lead to guaranteed jobs – will start soon, Hughes added.
“Our outreach programs are starting to work.”
People who know the area well say they really see the differences already.
Last week state workers started putting up fences that will allow homeless folks with newly-issued picture I.D.s to get into a safe area in the closed street between the main homeless providers.
But the skepticism runs across demographic lines.
Jones finds that those who said they are “very active” in the LDS Church – which has social service programs for its own homeless populations – are the most hopeful that “Operation Rio Grande” will work.
Thirty-eight percent said it would. But 52 percent of faithful Mormons in Utah say it won’t work, Jones found.
Other religious groups are less hopeful. And only 26 percent – one in four – of those who said they have no religion said it would work; 72 percent said it would not.
Jones polled 608 adults from Aug. 30-Sept. 5. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.97 percent.
Hughes said he believes over the next few months people will see even more change in the area.
And by June 2019, when The Road Home overnight shelter closes – where upwards of 1,200 homeless people are now being housed – the Rio Grande will be opened, and the homeless problem in Salt Lake City and County will be greatly altered for the better, said Hughes.
