UPDATE 4/2/2024: At today’s Hagerstown City Council Meeting, the “Tiny Village” concept was halted, with a 3 to 2 vote, with council members Aleshire, Perini, and McIntire voting against continuing exploring the concept.
HAGERSTOWN, MD News (3/20/2024) – Never in my life did I ever expect to listen to a Hagerstown City Council meeting where the Chief of Police would propose rounding up the city’s homeless and putting them in camp. But here we are. Conveniently, the camp will even be near the train tracks.
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Yesterday’s Hagerstown City Council work session meeting, Chief Kifer brought to the council a proposal to purchase a vacant part of Noland Village to build “tiny homes” capable of housing one person each, as well as a community center. According to Kifer, this initiative would help to address homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health challenges in the community. The plan involves establishing a “Tiny Housing” camp tailored to accommodate individuals grappling with these complex issues. Funded initially through opioid restitution resources, the envisioned camp is slated to occupy a lot at Noland Village, leveraging existing infrastructure for cost efficiency.
The proposal outlines the construction of 25 tiny homes alongside a community center to provide on-site services. With an estimated budget of $886,000, the community is designed to feature communal laundry facilities and a shared bathroom and shower area, emphasizing individual privacy and security.
Dubbed “Village of Martin Heights,” the tiny home village aims to offer a controlled environment conducive to relocating supporting vulnerable populations. The designation of a “gated community” is supposedly to ensure the safety and privacy of residents, with the city asserting its intent to manage access into the village for those in need of assistance, and is totally not a prison camp even though it sounds like a prison camp.
Just to be clear, this will be a guarded, gated community designed for the relocation of the county’s homeless population into single-person shacks, with the only running water a community building with laundry, restrooms, and showers. These tiny homes of approximately 75 square feet would feature a bed, heater, air conditioner, table, and chair.
The proposed village would allow residents to remain on-site even if they engage in substance use. Seattle tried this approach and it failed miserably.
While the project represents a significant undertaking for the city, officials stress its transitional nature, with residents anticipated to stay for up to a year. Hagerstown plans to solicit funding from county commissioners and private donors to make up for the funding which would not be covered by the opioid settlement.
Had a conservative proposed this, they would have been publicly called a Nazi by the media and completely destroyed, never to run for office ever again. But, because this is being proposed under the guise of compassion and helping Hagerstown’s mentally ill, substance abusers, and homeless, it’s suddenly okay.
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This doesn’t solve the city’s homeless problem, it simply relocates it to the edge of city limits, so that people in downtown Hagerstown aren’t harassed by homeless while walking through the glittering arts and entertainment district to the new stadium. This doesn’t fix anything, and by creating this “safe space” for drug users, the city is going to invite drug dealers to frequent the area as well. Basic economics, supply and demand. Drug dealers will go to where the demand is located at.
This is quite possibly the most dystopian idea I’ve ever heard the Hagerstown City Council consider, and I’m absolutely horrified that nobody spoke up and brought up how this eerily compares to Nazi Germany’s concentration camps.
But for the homeless who might be offered a place in this concentration camp tiny village, don’t worry, the fence and guards are “for your safety.”
Opinion article by Ken Buckler. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect those of RFHC’s sponsors or clients.
