No Safe Place:
The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities.
Notes from Webinar that took place on
Notes from Webinar that took place on
Thursday, July 17, 2014 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT.
This page consists of notes that I took on this National Law Center (NLC) webinar for the folks in the Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC) - Housing Committee, of which I am a member. All of my comments are in brackets and italicized; example: [Tim Waag]. Apologies in advance for any errors (grammar or spelling), omissions, etc. I took notes while listening, then took 42 minutes to edit and voila! - Read on!
[Side note: I include beautiful photos of nature on many of my otherwise boring or depressing web pages in order to counterbalance them...hope that makes sense...]
[I believe that "Criminalization of Homelessness" is occurring in my local community of San Luis Obispo county, and have reason to believe that it is occurring all across this country. When local officials are handing out citations for things like sleeping in your car or cooking in a camp alongside the creek, they need to do more than hand out citations. They need to have an answer for the homeless person when they ask "Where should I go, officer?". The answer should not be, IMHO, to just "go away".]
[As I have stated repeatedly, I believe that "in our relatively affluent country, we should be able to feed and house everyone, regardless of circumstance". Not luxury housing. Not fancy food. Just basic, nutritional food, and a cot under a dry roof with a blanket and a bathroom].
[Tim's Summary: At 1 hour long, this webinar is a summary of trends and court cases across the US. For most of us, criminalization of homelessness is nothing new, and I did not learn as much as I had hoped from this. Many involved with HSOC are far more knowledgable about the applicable laws in the various SLO County municipalities than I am. I am not up-to-date on the exact legal reach and implementation of our current laws on vagrancy, panhandling, sleeping in public, anti-camping, sleeping in cars, urinating in public, use of public bathrooms for bathing, etc., so will have to defer to others on judging where we stand vis-a-vis this criminalization issue.]
[In general, so-called "criminalization of homelessness" is statistically growing, which is no surprise. Most of these laws can be legally attacked through the first amendment, and the 8th amendment. I am unfamiliar with the 8th amendment, which is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits the government from imposing excessive punishment. I have included a short synopsis of the 8th amendment at the end of this article for my own education. The alternative promoted to this criminalization trend is the "housing first" approach, which the NLC claims costs local governments less in the long run. No doubt, the NLC has their own institutional bias, and their statistics can be taken with a grain of salt; having an MS in Math with a focus on statistics, I am familiar with their manipulation to suit any purpose!]
[Finally, it would appear that our local communities in SLO County subscribe to what I shall now call the "Criminalization First Approach", at least as described herein. If I'm wrong on this conclusion, PLEASE correct me!]
1. Panel Members for this Webinar: Attorneys and others from the National Law Center, and others. This program is being recorded and can be accessed at www.nlchp.org. See their press release on this presentation dated 7/16/2014 by clicking here.
2. Where's the Housing? There is a severe shortage of affordable housing and shelters across our nation, causing the homeless to break local housing and myriad other laws. The law enforcement solution constitutes a costly approach to this problem, and does not solve the problems. This criminalization continues to increase nationwide.
3. Is Homelessness a Crime? This is beginning to change. See today's New York Times which features an editorial on "Is Homelessness a Crime?" which you can read by clicking here.
4. We need constructive solutions, not criminalization. Lack of affordable housing is at the heart of the problem. The homeless have no choice but to live in public places. Across al 50 states, nobody can afford to pay market rent when making the minimum wage. HUD subsidies are being reduced. Rental rates are moving in the other direction - higher.
5. 1 in 45 children in the US are homeless. Point-in-time counts are growing in popularity, but still grossly undercount the population. The disparity between homeless and shelter beds is dramatic. [SLO County - The Happiest Place on Earth for Some - has a much worse than average ratio in this regard.]
6. Citywide bans on all homeless behaviors are common. Sleeping in public. Begging in public. Vagrancy Laws (anti-Loitering) laws. Sitting or lying down in public. Sleeping in vehicles. Food sharing. Bans on camping in public. Etc.
7. Trends Across the US: Increase in laws that criminalize homeless behavior.
8. CITY-WIDE CAMPING BANS: prohibit homeless from sleeping in tents, cars, RVs, on blankets or cardboard, etc. Sleeping outside is banned. On Public and private property. Private land owners are made into criminals also, by allowing homeless to sleep there.
9. SLEEPING IN PUBLIC: increase in ban on particular places sleep ban. Also banned in both public and private property. Banned sleeping during certain times of day.
10. MOVING ON: If not outright prosecuted for being homeless, the homeless are harassed and made to move on, thus disturbing any ability to sleep, accelerating behavioral problems.
11. PANHANDLING: Trend is for cities to increase laws against begging - particularly in specific areas. BAN ON AGGRESSIVE PANHANDLING: a way around banning first amendment free speech rights. Panhandling is often the homeless' only practical option. Huge increase in ordinances against panhandling is protected first amendment issue.
12. LOITERING, LOAFING AND VAGRANCY: Includes, sitting, leaning, wandering, loafing, strolling or lying down - really, just standing still. Remaining idle in 1 location, including lingering, sauntering or hanging around. Criminal penalties apply for staying in 1 place too long. Creates arbitrary enforcement of the law: police decide who is legally standing on a street corner, and who is engaging in the same (but criminal) behavior.
13. SITTING AND LYING DOWN IN PUBLIC: "Sit/Lie laws". Related to 12 above. Restricted by time of day. Necessary to move homeless people out-of-sight and improve an areas economic productivity. These sit/lie laws just increase government costs, and there is no proof that the homeless loitering reduces economic activity.
14. PROHIBITION OF LIVING IN VEHICLES: Area with the greatest increase. Massive loss of belongings following arrest, due to impounding. After release from jail, they are not able to retrieve vehicle (with all their worldly belongings, including Rx and IDs) because they cannot afford the fines and impound fees. Not allowed to have sleeping bags in your vehicle. Not allowed to eat (say, fast food, or anything else) in your car. Arbitrary enforcement issues [homelessness profiling?].
15. PROHIBITION OF FOOD SHARING WITH THE HOMELESS: It's believed that free food encourages people to stay homeless, or that the food [grandma's cookies?] is just unsafe. These laws are often persecuted against churches and non-profits that provide food. Limits placed on the "feed the hungry" activity. Forces homeless to eat from garbage cans instead. Those who wish to feed the hungry are subject to fines or jail time. Feeding people has some 1st amendment protections. It is argued that hungry people will seek corrective services, and that feeding them encourages them to continue to be homeless.
16. FLORIDA CASE STUDY: Legal approaches in Florida being exported to other municipalities. Many laws are believed to violate the 8th amendment. Courts have found many of these laws to be unconstitutional. Many of these harsh laws just move the problem around. Homeless is a social problem and not a criminal problem. "We cannot arrest our way out of the problem". Many anecdotal examples of how these laws make escaping from homelessness more challenging. Many begging laws do not allow panhandling for personal use, but allow it for raising money for non-profits - a 1st amendment free-speech content violation.
17. USING TRESPASS WARNINGS AND BANS: Causes restricted access for the homeless to public places. Allows government law enforcement to ban homeless from public places (like parks) FOREVER! People have been banned permanently from all city parks during open hours. Legal note: if cities use trespass warnings, there must be due process first - reduces arbitrary enforcement. Raises 1st amendment concerns, since public parks are often used as free speech zones.
18. PUBLIC URINATION LAWS: This one appears to applies equally to everyone. Without access to bathrooms 24/7, this creates criminal violations for routine behavior. Along with this are criminalization of certain activities in public bathrooms, such as cleaning, bathing, shaving, filling water bottles (including baby formula), etc. Would also prevent city council members from shaving in publicly accessed restrooms.
19. CRIMINALIZATION BELIEVED TO ERADICATE HOMELESSNESS: The more you punish the homeless for being homeless, the more they will no longer be homeless [this, of course, is ridiculous]. It's cheaper to shelter the homeless than to lock them up. Laws to criminalize the homeless are expensive and waste resources. The homeless are "recycled" and through each round or cycle, they are further from being reintroduced to permanent housing. Savings are achieved through the "housing first" approach. Many studies were cited that supported these findings (City of Albuquerque, NM, etc.).
20. CRIMINALIZATION RESULTS IN LOSS OF JOBS AND BENEFITS: With criminalization, they have convictions on their record, limiting access to jobs and benefits. Lack of a permanent address, the homeless are often denied parole and are held in jail for a longer period of time.
21. ALTERNATIVES TO CRIMINALIZATION - AFFORDABLE HOUSING!: Government should pursue solutions such as: Affordable Housing. Funding the national housing trust fund: 90% of money used to operate low income housing - this has NEVER been funded by FANNIE and FREDDIE, as required by law. [The government appears to be able to ignore the laws it does not like]. Homeless and domestic violence tax of 1% on restaurants in Miami-Dade county. Implement a "Housing First Model" reduces homelessness and taxpayer dollars.
22. TOO MANY HOOPS TO JUMP THROUGH TO RECEIVE SERVICES: Red tape causes the homeless to give up on attempting to receive services.
23. POLICE OUTREACH TEAMS: Police team up with local service providers. Help chronically homeless achieve housing, using teams of police and mental health professionals.
24. TRANSITION PLANNING AFTER HOSPITAL DISCHARGE: Many homeless end up back in hospitals. Respite centers allow the homeless to recover after hospital release.
25. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST COMBAT CRIMINALIZATION MOVEMENT: Federal dollars should not flow freely to communities that criminalize homelessness, but instead to those with alternatives to criminalization.
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