As they adapt to a massive shift in homeless services throughout the region, Salt Lake City’s unsheltered population will also be coping with the “long-term damage” inflicted by Operation Rio Grande, according to a new analysis released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah.
The 10-page report criticizes the two-year law enforcement campaign, which focused on Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande neighborhood near the emergency shelter downtown, for an “over-reliance on arrests and fines” that it said has placed a “substantial, long-term burden” not only on people experiencing homelessness but also on local service providers and the community at large.