Why are “fiscally responsible” politicians spending taxpayer money to make people homeless?
This piece, including the title, has been edited to correct inaccuracies.
Distributed to Illinois media
By Sandy . . . Everyone needs a place to live, including people with past convictions. The government shouldn’t be spending taxpayer money to kick people out of their homes.
Beginning in 2020, Bob O’Dekirk, then-mayor of Joliet, Illinois, put in motion a scheme to evict people residing lawfully in a Joliet, apartment building. He first tried to evoke an Illinois law that had been in place since 2005, a law prohibiting more than one person with a prior sexual offense conviction from registering at the same address. This failed to gain traction when a federal court declared the law unconstitutional.
He then decided to use an Illinois law that prohibits persons with past convictions for certain sexual offenses from living within 500 feet of schools, daycares and other child-centric locations.
The mayor’s plan was to create what has come to be known as a “pocket park” within 500 feet of a
building owned by NewDay Apartments where several people who are required to register reside. He located an unoccupied house on a lot one block away and with the approval of the city council, on August 12, 2021, purchased it for $83,000. The City then paid an undetermined amount to have the house razed, the lot cleared, and the lot seeded or planted with grass. Now under the leadership of the new mayor of Joliet, businessman Terry D’Arcy, a new Joliet city council has approved another $100,000 in taxpayer money to establish a “park” on the vacant lot.
These efforts are being led by John Sheridan, head of a neighborhood council, and Jim Lanham, who is using this issue to further his campaign for a seat as Illinois’ 86th District state representative. According to a recent interview with Sheridan and Lanham, the sole reason for establishing this park is to get “rid of” the people who are quietly living in the NewDay building. But have they thought about where the residents will go if they are driven from their homes?
No one is safer when we render members of our community homeless. In fact, decades of social science research establish that stable housing is one of the most important factors in rehabilitation of people with past convictions.
People who have been held accountable for their crimes and served their prison time deserve the opportunity to build positive, law-abiding lives. The men residing at NewDay Apartments are doing just that. They are working to be productive, contributing members of the community. Some of them have been there for many years without any problems. NewDay provided this statement to NARSOL: 
“Community safety remains the #1 priority of NewDay Apartments, and that is exactly what we have provided. No current tenant at Cora St. has ever been accused of a new registerable offense, much less convicted of one.”
Former mayor O’Dekirk, Mayor D’Arcy, and Mr. Lanham have all emphasized their commitment to fiscal responsibility and fighting wasteful spending. Committing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a misguided publicity stunt that will do nothing more than remove men from their current, safe living conditions and put them on the street isn’t fiscal responsibility, and it’s not good policy.
