Homeless Encampments

Dr. Sharon Chamard

One of the most challenging issues related to homelessness is how to deal with homeless encampments. This issue was highlighted once again over the weekend with this AP story carried in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and other Texas papers: www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article16623185.html . One of the reasons this is a challenging issue is that it does not lend itself very well to our “sound-bite, black and white, move quickly on to the next issue” nature of today’s fast-paced media. This is why I found Dr. Sharon Chamard’s thoughtful, objective, long form analysis of this issue, “Homeless Encampments” (Problem-Oriented Guides for Police - Problem-Specific Guides Series No. 56) at www.popcenter.org/problems/pdfs/homeless_encampments.pdf so invaluable. Make sure you check it out.