I support Rocky Anderson for mayor of Salt Lake City due to his track record of housing the unsheltered. In his previous two terms as mayor, Salt Lake City had success with a “housing first” policy, one that prioritized housing and then offered necessary services to residents once they became stable.
We’re in desperate need of that type of strategic thinking and strength of will as we move forward.
Over the last four years, we’ve faced a pandemic, a serious economic downturn, a badly inflated housing market and a four-fold increase in need for overflow beds. The mayor I wished for would aggressively be funding housing, reducing permit waiting times, opening a sanctioned camp and providing extended services to the unsheltered already on the streets. These services would include case management, food, clothing, showers, trash service and health care.
Private nonprofits have provided food and healthcare, and the city has turned a blind eye to the great need for desperately needed shelter. This means our unsheltered population has grown to include families with children, people with pets, seniors with respiratory issues that couldn’t stay in congregate settings and people with mental health issues that didn’t do well in the crowded shelters, all of whom have been living on the street and in ongoing conflict with the police.
Rocky is a bold leader that believes in action. He has been scrupulously honest with Salt Lake as he exposes the abuses to the unsheltered population by our own police and city workers. He’s helped expose fraudulent claims by the current administration on public housing projects that have failed. He goes out on the street on a very regular basis, he’s known by sight to our unsheltered friends and he volunteered dozens of shifts at 2nd & 2nd Coalition last winter.
Rocky helped feed and house those who couldn’t fit in the existing shelters on the coldest nights and worked with local service providers to get at least eight people into housing this spring. In four years, the current mayor has yet to accept an invitation to join me for street outreach. I believe in a leader who will put his money, his service hours, his reputation and his passion where his mouth is.
Wendy Garvin
Wendy Garvin is the executive director of Unsheltered Utah, a grassroots non-profit effort that formed with community members coming together to meet needs of unsheltered individuals.
