My name is Grant Amjad Miller, and I am a public defender. I became a public defender to help people in vulnerable situations. I am running for the state House for that very same reason.
All of my clients are very poor, and they often lack the resources many of us take for granted, such as healthcare and housing. Legislative policy that directly impacts my clients, especially on housing issues, often comes from a law enforcement perspective, with limited input from the other impact workers on the ground — like public defenders. These policy decisions often require that our police force address our homelessness crisis, but the institution of law enforcement is not designed to address the issue at its roots. In the end, incarceration is not a solution to homelessness.
Our homelessness crisis cannot be resolved with a single answer, but there are approaches we can immediately implement that will help the unsheltered. This involves compassionate initiatives to meet people where they are and build a sense of purpose and community.
For example, an undersung program in Salt Lake City is “Kayak Court” — a program in which the city’s municipal court travels in kayaks along the Jordan River to engage with unsheltered folks camping along the banks. A team of social workers ask each individual if they want resources — and they typically do. The problem is that many of the folks don’t qualify for help because they have active arrest warrants for not showing up to court, usually for camping and trespass citations. When I have participated in the program, the social workers have me paddle over to address the court case. If there is something I can help with, I call over the municipal judge, who is in a canoe with their clerk. We hold court right there — on the water.
This program is a perfect example of how to meet people where they are while also reducing costs to taxpayers. There is less money spent on arrests, booking and jail to address the warrants. It is more humane to my clients because it avoids the needless anxiety, embarrassment and fear that comes with an arrest. We have been too harsh with our unsheltered community to the point that we have lost their trust. This program is an example of how we can build bridges to funnel resources to the people who need them.
The other key is to proliferate low-barrier transitional substance abuse and mental health care-based housing options. It has been my practice to set up a transitional program for my clients when they leave incarceration. This means leaving the jail to attend an inpatient residential rehab. From there, my clients can enter sober living or obtain housing vouchers. It’s an approach that works. Recidivism has decreased dramatically for my clients that use these lifelines.
That said, this approach has major obstacles. Right now, the waitlist for a substance abuse rehab bed is anywhere from four to 10 weeks. A bed for residential mental healthcare is dramatically worse — it takes up to 18 months. If you have ever seen an unsheltered person having a mental health episode in a public place, it is usually because they have no other meaningful place to go. Our shelters have some tools to grapple with mental health, but they are largely limited with the kind of healthcare they can provide. The few mental health treatment centers we have are all significantly overburdened. The default solution then becomes incarceration — which isn’t a solution at all. Not only is it expensive and ineffective to put people needing treatment in jail, it’s unethical — particularly if there is no long term infrastructure to provide ongoing support for these folks.
We need to do more than simply provide housing. We need to bring resources to the people who need them. We need to build a sense of community and belonging for those who are suffering from poverty.
I am running for the state House to work on these solutions. I am aiming to collaborate with my colleagues at the municipal and state levels to streamline resources and bring our local governments and community actors together to help people. Our most vulnerable communities need grace, purpose and hope. In so doing, we will make our communities safer and bring some closure to one of the most challenging issues confronting Utah.
(Photo courtesy of Grant Amjad Miller) Grant Amjad Miller
Grant Amjad Miller is running for Utah House District 24.
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