The Real Way to Make Winston-Salem Safer

This blog post was first published as an op-ed in the Sunday, September 7, 2025 edition of the Winston-Salem Journal. 

This summer I wrote about the cracks in our community’s safety nets and the quiet emergency of rising homelessness. Today, I want to talk about another piece of that story: how fear and perception can make us feel less safe, and how policy choices in response to that fear can either strengthen our community or divide it further.

When a resident is assaulted in their own home, as tragically happened recently, fear takes hold quickly. That fear is real, and we should not dismiss it. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood. But fear can also distort the bigger picture. It can make us point fingers at all unhoused people as if they are inherently dangerous, when the data tell us something very different. People experiencing homelessness are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. When we collapse one tragic incident into a blanket assumption, we end up punishing the very people who need community safety the most.

Winston-Salem is at a crossroads. We can follow Greensboro’s lead and pass ordinances that make it illegal to sit, lie down, or camp in public. It’s too early to know what Greensboro’s ordinance will accomplish, but we do know this: unsheltered homelessness is on the rise across our region and the country. Passing rules that push people out of public view doesn’t solve the housing crisis; it just makes vulnerable people less safe. We shouldn’t mistake “moving people out of sight” for progress.

We also need to be honest about cost. Ordinances like these don’t just fail to solve homelessness, they create an expensive revolving door. A person cited for sitting on a sidewalk racks up fines and court fees they cannot pay, often leading to jail time. That means taxpayers foot the bill for arrest, court processing, and incarceration—thousands of dollars spent to punish poverty. Imagine if even a fraction of those dollars were redirected into prevention, supportive services, or housing. We’d not only spend less, we’d actually make people and neighborhoods safer.

Here’s what makes communities safer:

Name the real crisis. Homelessness is a housing problem, not a people problem. Until we create more affordable housing and strengthen prevention programs, no amount of policing or ordinances will make our city safer.

Expand the definition of “neighbor.” Our community is stronger when we recognize that all of us share this city. Whether you live in a house, an apartment, or a tent, you are part of Winston-Salem. Safety comes not from dividing people into categories, but from understanding that we are all connected.

Address fear with facts and humanity. Yes, crime happens. But criminalizing poverty doesn’t prevent crime. It only destabilizes people further. Stable housing, supportive services, and prevention strategies are the tools that actually reduce crime and make neighborhoods safer.

Invest in what works. Those of us working in homeless services spend our days in the thick of people’s suffering and survival. It is relentless, often heartbreaking work, and our capacity is already stretched to the limit. Quick fixes such as new ordinances, more citations, or harsher enforcement don’t lighten that load. They make it heavier. They may quiet complaints for a while, but they destabilize people further and add to the crisis we’re already fighting. The only proven way to reduce homelessness and increase safety is housing.

The work ahead isn’t about pandering to one group or vilifying another. It’s about having the courage to invest in housing, prevention, and community support. In the end, our safety is tied together, and our neighborhood is only as strong as our commitment to care for every single neighbor in it.