Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend
Winter arrived in the form of a cold wind on Tuesday night when I went to speak with homeless people encamped on Main Street, under a bridge near the bus station. It wasn’t my first visit, but with the downtown winter warming shelter open for the season, it was the best chance yet to try to understand why some people are still at the viaduct.
We had just left Project WARM, operated by volunteers and Hope Ministries in a building the city purchased for them last year. It’s very basic, but it offers a clean and safe place to sleep. Some nights, it’s the only option for those with addiction or other issues preventing them from accessing other facilities. The shelter can sleep up to 30 people; that night, there were 23.
Seven people remained at the bridge. Most were asleep, but two spoke with us. “Why under the bridge?” my colleague asked one man after we got to talking. “It’s dry,” he said. “It’s one thing to be cold. It’s another thing to be wet.”
I offered to walk him to the shelter, two blocks away, but he said he didn’t want to give up his space and didn’t trust local nonprofits. We made the same offer to a second man, who said he would think about it, but then pulled his sleeping bag over his head and went to sleep.
Morally, there is no simple answer to the question of whether someone should be forced indoors. But most of us can agree that no human being should be living under a bridge. Some seek out places like this, but research shows that encampments carry a higher risk of disease, abuse, and physical violence.
Concerned about these harms, the city has begun cleaning the area more frequently. Some have objected at the sight of pallets and makeshift cardboard beds being carried away. (Contrary to rumor, crews are not confiscating warm weather clothing or similar personal property, except when abandoned.)
Others think that the city has been too tolerant, but we have limited legal options.