Finding ways to help the homeless population is one of the hardest problems  any big city faces. However, one South Carolina municipality has found a cheap  and easy solution: Out of sight, out of mind.

Under the “Emergency Homeless Response” plan (which can be read in full here),  passed last week by the Columbia City Council, homeless-looking citizens in  Columbia’s 36-block downtown area will be asked by police to move to a shelter  on the outskirts of the city. Should the person refuse, the State reports:

“they could be arrested under a range of public nuisance laws that include  loitering, public intoxication, public urination, aggressive panhandling or  trespassing.”

Coercing suspected homeless into shelter on the edge of town is just one of  the plan’s controversial aspects. Once at the shelter, the potentially unwilling  residents would be prevented from leaving except by specific appointment. The  only approved way to exit the installation is  by reserving a shuttle ride. In order to further ensure shelter-goers do not  return to the business district, a police officer will be placed on the road  leading downtown to redirect homeless people away from the area.

The central role of a single shelter has also been criticized for not  providing the capacity necessary to house all of Columbia’s homeless. The  expanded center, slated to open on September 15th, would only have enough room  for less  than one-sixth of the city’s homeless population.

The South Carolina capital isn’t the first city to try relocating homeless  people. States from Hawaii to San Francisco have offered some homeless one-way  plane tickets back to their places of origin. But these recent plans bear  little resemblance to Columbia’s mandatory removal of suspected vagrants. Both  San Francisco and Hawaii’s programs are voluntary, and intended to re-unite the  homeless with family members who can help them get back on their feet.

Instead, Columbia’s plan is more reminiscent of the “tough love” policies of  the late 1990s, most famously associated with New York City Mayor Rudolph  Giuliani. A 1999 TIME article reports  how 24 cities had begun conducting nightly police sweeps to dislodge the  homeless, and detailed the NYC mayor’s plan to remove all “able-bodied” homeless  people from shelters if they refused to work. A New York Times article from the same year recounts how the NYPD would hand out $76 citations to those  living on the street as punishment for “camping in public.”

Homeless advocates in Columbia have made it clear that the City Council’s  plan will not be implemented without a fight. Tom Turnipseed, a local attorney,  has promised to file a federal lawsuit, and he expects both the ACLU and  Columbia’s Appleseed Legal Justice Center will aid his efforts.

But at least some Columbians have expressed support for the Council’s  policy. Eric Bland, a lawyer, told the State that the large number  of homeless people near his workplace make him feel unsafe. “The lawyers that  are screaming aren’t the ones at Ground Zero of this,” said Bland. “They’re not  the ones paying the taxes.”

“It’s the city’s obligation to provide for the health and welfare of its  citizens,” Bland added. The homeless “don’t have the right to stop people from  the use and enjoyment of their property.”

SOURCE: TIME