The current recession and foreclosure crisis have resulted in greater numbers of people becoming homeless. People who have gone through a recent bankruptcy and the loss of a job are finding themselves getting evicted from their homes only to find their living options dwindling and the possibility of homelessness quickly becoming a reality.
As homelessness spreads throughout our cities, municipal services strain to keep up with the increasing demand for social services. In the state of Colorado, for example, nearly 28% of the homeless are people that have just become homeless in the past twenty-four months.
The sad truth is that most states fail to provide enough affordable shelter and food to meet the increased needs of their homeless. Unfortunately, many cities are resorting to using local law enforcement to remove the homeless from streets and parks – making it illegal to eat, sit, or sleep in public places and effectively making homelessness a crime. Some states have even made it illegal to feed the homeless by passing laws that prohibit food sharing and by dissuading individuals and groups from serving the homeless.
The criminalization of homelessness takes many insidious forms, including, making it illegal to sleep, sit, or store personal belongings in public spaces. Some cities have made sweeping away the homeless a routine part of law enforcement’s responsibilities. Police regularly perform sweeps of areas in which homeless are living in an organized effort to drive the homeless away form population centers. Sweeps can be dangerous and the process can often result in the destruction of a homeless person’s personal property. When homeless persons are arrested and charged with violating vagrancy laws, they eventually end up with a criminal record, making it even more difficult to find a job or obtain housing in the future.
Another way of criminalizing homelessness is through the enforcement of laws that punish people for begging or panhandling. These common practices of removal and avoidance of an entire class of people based on their economic status is nothing short of reprehensible in a society as wealthy as ours. Still worse, is the ambivalence in which public officials view the homeless “problem” while doing precious little to address the underlying causes of homelessness.
Instead of criminalizing homelessness, public officials along with private groups should be constructively working to end homelessness by dedicating more public and private resources to developing affordable housing, emergency shelters, education, and outreach services.
Private industry can play a vital and positive role in helping to address the key causes of homelessness. Instead of advocating avoidance of the issue through the criminalization of homelessness, business groups can join with non-profits to work on real solutions that benefit all of society.
The good news is that there are many public and legal advocacy groups who care deeply about the homeless and are dedicated to improving their lives through the use of the legal system.
Legal advocates for the homeless have successfully argued that any law that punishes the homeless for engaging in life-sustaining activities violates the constitution as well as the publics sense of fairness and fundamental human dignity for all it’s citizens.
People Experiencing Homelessness In The U.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment