In your opinion, should local governments be allowed to clear homeless camps without also offering alternative housing to all homeless residents?

👍 Yes (37%) – "Homeless encampments are dangerous. Forcing other people to bear the brunt of that danger while city governments are legislated into attempts to solve homelessness is cruel and unusual punishment."

• "Yes, because the issue is out of control. Many major cities are a mess of fecal matter, drug paraphernalia and trash. People don't want to go to San Francisco anymore, and my other cities are in the same shape. However, I do think we need to do something for our homeless population. A country of our wealth shouldn't have thousands and thousands of people living on the streets, and the current housing market is probably exacerbating the issue."

"Local governments are tasked with keeping local residents safe. When individuals choose to reside in the public right-of-way or on private property, governments should be allowed to remove them. Public right-of-way is meant for traffic, whether pedestrian or vehicle, and it's unlawful to impede the rights of people to use the right-of-way without a permit. Private property is just that, privately owned, and as such the owner should be allowed to choose if individuals can be on the property."

• "Homelessness does need to be addressed; however, I believe it isn't a right guaranteed by our constitution. Of course, homeless rights advocates contend that the 8th amendment may apply, I do not believe it does. We need to protect businesses and residents from the heighten crime that comes with homelessness encampments."

👎 No (48%) – "If the homeless problem cannot be alleviated, these people need someplace to stay. If they are cleared out of public places there should be a place designated as to where they can legally stay in their tents, etc. by local governments as a temporary solution."

• "Because I am human and see others as human, too. It's not fair to make the unhoused pay the consequences for government's failure to either provide housing or to set policy so that people aren't priced out of rent or mortgages due to inflation, private equity, and greed."

"I live and walk by an area where there’s always homeless folks in tents staying and I haven’t ever been bothered by them, they deserve somewhere dry and safe to sleep too. If there’s been an issue with violence or harassment they should do something about that, but that’s a different issue and can happen regardless of someone’s housing status."

• "If they are so concerned about the rise in homelessness and want to fix the problem then they should make REAL affordable housing to keep people off the streets. The issue is that the government does not actually care about its citizens and it shows when they attempt to “clear” out the homeless from the streets. They need to help them and prevent it from happening and spreading further."

"All this will do is cause the homeless to find somewhere else to camp. While I don't care for the damage left behind by homeless camps (our area has a very bad problem with the homeless), this is just moving the problem to another area. Housing is very difficult to be found, but there are options. Tiny homes, building up, not out, convert shipping containers to home areas. Unfortunately, it all comes down to money, and "I don't want that in my backyard-itis"."

🤷 Unsure/other (15%) – "I wouldn’t want to use the streets or parks they put up tents on so that’s not nice for regular folks. But at the same time I wish they had somewhere to go and sleep because they can’t afford the fines. Such a sad situation."

• "I would like to see all the tents gone. However, if you do that, the homeless don’t disappear so there has to be some other solution. In my view, the majority of homelessness is due to drugs.. Mental institutions should be opened to treat the afflicted. The major mistake in my view was made years ago when you can’t keep someone institutionalized who doesn’t want to be. Many people with mental illness and drug addiction will never be helped if there’s no mandatory stay in mental institutions. What’s being done now is obviously not working."