Chelda Smith Kondo, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas, spoke with KARE 11 about St. Paul’s efforts to close its largest homeless encampments. Smith Kondo said long-term solutions should prioritize stable housing, noting that clearing encampments can disrupt access to health care, outreach workers and other essential services.
From the conversation:
Chelda Smith Kondo: Let’s just be really clear. This is a societal public health problem.
Raya Quttaineh: Dr. Chelda Smith Kondo, associate professor at the University of St. Thomas, says violence, overdoses and fires at encampments are public health concerns, but research shows that sweeping them away can also create public health risks by disrupting people’s access to established services.
Chelda Smith Kondo: Within an encampment, I think what a lot of the public doesn’t understand is there are street doctors, street social workers. If we saw it as the crisis that it is and the public health issue that it is, we wouldn’t be as concerned about destroying an encampment as much as we would be concerned about replacing an encampment with sustainable housing.
