The coronavirus pandemic, which broke out all over the world for almost three years, completely changed the way of life of the modern world. Many researchers, journalists, and writers cover this topic and talk about various situations that can sometimes lead to shock. O’Connor Meg wrote about one of these cases in the article “Maricopa county moved homeless people to Sweltering parking lots in response to COVID-19”. This analysis aims to study this material in order to identify what actions were taken incorrectly and what consequences this entailed.
People without permanent residence have become a particular threat to the spread of the pandemic. This is because this group has nowhere to live, and they often have close contact with each other, do not follow hygiene rules, and have minimal access to medical care. One of the opinions is that it is necessary to limit its causes with this problem. In other words, it is necessary to increase the level of social assistance to the homeless, increasing the availability of housing and social benefits. On the other hand, it is believed that homelessness and unemployment are psychological phenomena, and external factors cannot significantly contribute to their elimination. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation of the homeless have become particularly acute in the United States of America.
The incident described in the article under study occurred in Maricopa County. There, next to Arizona’s biggest homeless shelter, Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) has been hosting tents with homeless people for a long time (O’Conner para. 1). As a measure to combat COVID-19, the state decided to relocate and encamp the camp near the encampment as part of Maricopa County’s, which was now located in the open air. Thus, hundreds of people were forced to change their habitat to a fenced asphalt place without shade in the triple-digit summer heat.
As an example of a victim of homeless resettlement, there was the case of Elisha McKinley. Even though the woman has almost found a place to live, she was moved to the camp a few months ago. Moreover, McKinley faced police misconduct, as they threw away a cart that contained birth certificate, IDs and house-warming gifts from her daughter (O’Conner para. 5). In addition, although the government initially assessed these measures as temporary, permanent lamps were installed, from which people were expelled, preventing many of them from returning to the same place.
All these measures were taken to contain the outbreak among the homeless part of the population, but the government managed to keep the situation under control. In addition to the absurdity of bringing people out into the open under the scorching sun, this decision was met with great doubt both from society and the state authorities. This factor became stronger after it became known about the death of three people in the fenced parking lot.
Moreover, despite the negative in the direction of moving homeless people to the parking lot, social services request to change the zoning permit, that is, to increase it. This decision should attract a more significant number of people without a home. However, like the initial measure to move the camp, this initiative was met with a counter-action. In this case, businesses and homeowners in the neighborhood are dissatisfied with it. Such an attitude can significantly slow down the expansion process, as the services will have to wait for the city council’s approval. Based on the hostile experience of implementing the initiative concerning homeless camps, the Phoenix government is taking new measures. Hence, Phoenix raised money to rent one hundred and fifty hotel rooms for homeless residents, but this is only a tiny fraction of the entire infected homeless population.
Therefore, this work carried out an analysis of the article about the not entirely fictitious actions of the right of Phoenix. The authorities, in the fight against a new coronavirus infection, moved homeless people to a fenced parking lot in the heat. This action led to the death of several people, which led to a wave of discontent from the general public. Because the pandemic is still not defeated, many people are losing their jobs and applying for unemployment benefits. Therefore, service providers and the state government need to work out measures to solve the potential problem. One of the positive trends has become the distribution of housing rental assistance.