A year ago, Beth Olson, a board member of the Fargo-Moorhead Coalition to End Homelessness and housing navigation program director at Presentation Partners in Housing, wrote a letter to The Forum titled " The only true cure for homelessness is housing ".

While I agree with the title, unfortunately, after a year, that wishful thinking has not borne fruit.

Olson wrote that Fargo’s camping ban does not criminalize homelessness but only bans unsafe behaviors. Yet in reality, the law criminalized basic acts of survival such as resting, sheltering and sleeping, especially when all shelters are full and no safe alternatives exist.

Proposals to remove benches and reduce engagement center hours push unhoused people out of public spaces without providing adequate resources or shelter. I suggest

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