Homeless in America
The American Criminalization
of
Poverty
By Dave Oehl
What do you get when you cross a booming national economy with homelessness? Fewer homeless people, right? Wrong. What you get, apparently, is not only greater homelessness, but also enactment, and greater enforcement, of laws and policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness. It is important to examine such public policy as a means of social control, instead of social change or improvement.
The Making of a Crime
According to Criminalization of Poverty, a report published in 1993 by the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless (ATFH), there are two kinds of laws that discriminate against the poor and homeless. "Homeless" laws specifically target homeless individuals and their activities. "Status" laws punish individuals for their economic condition, rather than their behavior.
Many cities across the country have homeless laws, falling into a few general categories. Panhandling is restricted or banned altogether (Massachusetts passed a law of this kind several years ago but it was struck down by the state courts as unconstitutional). Anti-camping ordinances, such as in Austin, Texas, prohibit sleeping on streets or in parks after curfew or at all. And in many cities, the homeless are excluded from downtown areas and places where they congregate. Austin and Los Angeles, for instance, have no-standing zones and no-sitting areas where people may not linger. There are also such arcane laws as the prohibition of public parking lot crossing in Atlanta.
In Tucson, a special zone was created in which it is a crime simply to be homeless. Police were arresting homeless people without cause and releasing them only when they agreed to stay out of the area for a certain period of time. Alan Mason, arrested under this law, was banned from an area that covered just about all of downtown, including his lawyer's office, all the courthouses, the voter registration office, and several places of worship.
The line between homeless laws and status laws blurs. Most disorderly conduct laws are considered status laws by the ATFH, since many homeless are mentally ill, or predisposed to erratic behavior, caused by (or causing) their homelessness.
An example of a recent "status" ordinance is one proposed, though not passed, last September by Ray Suarez of the Chicago City Council to prohibit sleeping in cars. Mr. Suarez said that some residents did not feel safe because people were sleeping in cars near their homes. Activists are now making sure that the councilor is educated on this issue and is dealing constructively with it as well as discussing affordable housing.
Selective Enforcement
Many administrations choose to selectively enforce laws to punish the homeless, laws that were not originally meant for this purpose. The laws invoked cover anything from stolen property to general trespassing to general sanitation (such as laws that prohibit dumping in vacant lots or blocking entrances and alleys).
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is creatively sculpting NYC laws to punish the homeless and clear the streets, and making up new policies as he goes along. Giuliani has ordered massive street sweeps to clear out the homeless since a tourist was seriously injured when attacked by an allegedly homeless man in November. One commentator remarked that this is the first time punishment has been meted out before there is even a suspect.
Giuliani is also determined to reserve the right to shelter only for those who work for it; so if you don't work, you'll be kicked out of a shelter, and then you'll be arrested for sleeping on the street. The Mayor is also opposed to any minimum wage increases that might help the poor pay for housing. Meanwhile he is promoting New York as an urban Disneyland; as a result, rents are going up, and the city and state are not creating affordable housing. After a while, one begins to suspect his motives.
A New York City Police manual for carrying out street sweeps, called Quality of Life Enforcement Options: A Police Reference Guide, lists 35 offenses for which people on the street can be arrested. A homeless man now challenging these policies in court was arrested in 1997 on an obscure sanitation code violation. He was strip-searched and held for 27 hours; the ticket turned out to be invalid.
In Los Angeles, downtown business improvement districts hired private security forces to patrol the streets. These have been charged in a lawsuit with coercive detention, invasion of privacy, and assault and battery. The security officers routinely interview people on the street and keep files on the people they interview. They photograph and search the possessions of people they think "don't belong."
The Real Effects of Criminalization
One of my friends, a bleach-blonde dyke with a crew cut, described the worst feeling in the world as "when someone doesn't want you anymore." Policies that persecute the poor increase the alienation of homeless individuals, and increase what Michael Sullivan from Bread & Jams (a Cambridge-based homeless advocacy group) calls "paranoia." It is frightening to live knowing that by virtue of who you are, or at least what condition you find yourself in, you could be arrested. The man who started the suit against New York City now avoids contact with service workers, fearful of being arrested again. He never sleeps in the same place twice. Homeless people are less likely to seek help and shelter if they think they may get harassed or arrested. This can lead to more deaths or destructive behavior.
These policies make it difficult for poor and homeless people to find and hold jobs. Employers are reluctant to hire poor and homeless people when they have a criminal record. Furthermore, if people are arrested for "quality of life" violations and miss work, they may lose their jobs. And in the meantime, these policies also feed negative public opinion, distracting it away from positive, long-term solutions and focusing it on the people themselves, not their condition.
Challenges to Anti-Homeless Ordinances
In addition to legal challenges like the lawsuits already mentioned, many activists and legislators are also working to reverse the trend of harmful, discriminatroy policies.
The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty is an activist organization that documents legal abuses and aids homeless defendants and plaintiffs. In a 1997 case, a creative settlement agreement was reached in which the city of Miami agreed to implement a training program to ensure that police do not violate the rights of homeless people or destroy their property. An advisory committee was created to monitor police contact with the homeless, and monetary compensation was provided to the plaintiffs. This case was a landmark development, and its provisions are being reviewed for possible use all over the country.
The National Coalition for the Homeless, a nationwide advocacy organization, is currently conducting a National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. This project provides knowledge, experience, and resources to individuals and groups in resource-poor locales, to help them organize an immediate response to violations.
At the governmental level, some creative efforts have also begun to emerge. Rather than enforce nuisance ordinances, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts convened a "Multi-disciplinary Working Group" (MWG) to address issues of "homelessness, public intoxication, and nuisance behaviors." This body includes homeless and formerly homeless people, police officers, representatives from public service agencies, and city officials. The MWG focused on how to help "problem" homeless people, those who used the city's services the most. The MWG's report discusses ways to streamline service provision and cut down on redundancies, fill in gaps in services, improve relations between the housed and homeless populations, and generate community involvement.
The Struggle Goes On
Social control is at work here. To what end is uncertain, at least to me. The vast majority of the anti-poor and anti-homeless policies are lauded by businesses concerned with their profit margins. These policies are enacted by elected representatives responding to constituents or to campaign contributors. However, there is a significant effort to organize in opposition to this control. Most larger American cities have organizations of homeless and poor people; some are stronger than others. All can be brought together to combat discrimination.
