Spa City weighs homeless aid

Mayoral hopeful pitches voluntary levy to add resources

HOT SPRINGS — Real and personal property tax bills in Garland County include a $10 voluntary assessment for animal services in the unincorporated area of the county, an optional tax the county collector’s office said raised $119,620 last year.

Hot Springs mayoral candidate Eric Capaci proposes a similar levy that could be used to address homelessness in the city. It’s an idea he’ll present to the Hot Springs Board of Directors if he’s elected Nov. 8. He’s running against incumbent Mayor Pat McCabe, who’s seeking a second elected term.

“I will propose to the board a voluntary assessment on our property tax bills, very small, to be used solely for homeless people and resources,” he said at the District 2 town hall meeting the Gateway Community Association held last week at the Webb Community Center. “Those who have a heart for this group can pay that assessment and volunteer.”

The current board has discussed using some of the city’s $11.37 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation to build a resource center/shelter for homeless people. The city has said the facility would allow it to address loitering on public property.

A 2018 ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined Boise, Idaho, from enforcing its anti-camping ordinances without providing shelter beds for people it removed from public rights of way. The precedent prevented the city from removing a homeless man who was living outside Hot Springs City Hall for more than a week, the city said.

The city has been reluctant to commit one-time federal pandemic relief money to a resource center/shelter without having an operator for the facility. It said local nonprofits don’t want to commit their resources given the lack of affordable housing in the area. The scarcity of reasonably priced housing would put people back on the street after they leave the resource center, the nonprofits have told the city.

The consent agenda the board reviewed for its Oct. 4 business meeting included a resolution awarding a $63,550 contract to RKG Associates Inc. for a housing strategy plan. Housing is one of five priorities the city board established for 2023.

“I think one thing we’re all aware of is homelessness is a problem in our city,” Capaci said at the town hall. “The greatest way to move toward a solution to the homeless problem in our city is not by throwing government money at it, but by bringing together faith-based and non-faithbased groups and creating an opportunity to find long-term solutions to this problem.”

He said paying an extra $10 on a property tax bill would help homeless people more than giving money to panhandlers.

“We’ll educate our citizens who are not helping by giving out money to people standing on the street corners,” Capaci said. “It would be better giving $10 to a group dedicated to eliminating all homelessness in Hot Springs than it would to give it to someone standing on a street corner.”