Homelessness Law Blog

“I’ll be around. Somehow. I used to fall asleep thinking I wouldn’t wake up. Now I know better. Now I know, honey – it goes on and on and on.”

Last February, I wrote about a woman named “V.” She’s a homeless person who sat outside our K Street office for the better part of a year. I visited with her daily, and bought her lunch from time to time. She talked about the pain she was in, her addiction to alcohol, and the vicious love of her dead father. In between, she’d point out young women on the street and insist they were looking at me.

My visits weren’t noble. I can shamefully recall a few days when I took a different path to work because I didn’t have money for her. In shielding myself from her disappointment, I denied her the human contact she so dearly coveted.

I wrote before about a man she met at church. He was kind and gentle, giving her a place to stay while she got back on her feet. Her voice swelled with pride as she described looking for a job and scented shampoo. She was sober; there was such clarity to her thoughts.

But as the weeks passed, that clarity faded. The spark of life vanished from her eyes. There were bruises on her. She wouldn’t say where they came from, but I already knew. I pressed her for information about the man she was staying with.

(more…)

This week the New York Times caught on to a trend that’s sweeping the nation: as J.R. Fleming, co-founder of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign who spoke earlier this month at our National Forum on the Human Right to Housing put it, “we…put homeless people into people-less housing.”

The article starts off with the scene of the Biggs family moving into their home, as supporters surround them and chant “fight, fight, fight, ‘cause housing is a human right.” While most families move on their own, or with the help of a few friends, the Biggs need the support of a group, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, because their move is not a traditional one – they don’t have a legal right to move in.

This forceful re-examination of the laws by which certain people are left out on the street even when there are countless empty homes in their communities is central to the notion of housing as a human right. During the civil rights struggle, people confronted the long-accepted laws of segregation and discrimination by challenging them in direct actions like sit-ins at lunch counters, as well as working through the courts and the legislatures. We are now engaged in the continuation of that struggle, as the Biggs and the Anti-Eviction Campaign take the first steps to say just because it’s the law, doesn’t mean the law is just.

The idea of housing as a human right doesn’t necessarily mean that every homeless family should be allowed to move into a vacant house and take that property away from its legal owner. But it does challenge us to look at the injustice of homelessness, and the laws that perpetuate it, in a new way. And there may be new models of community homeownership and renting that can co-exist with our present private ownership model that will provide the bridge to a more just future.

The Times article concludes with Ms. Biggs “showing off the freshly painted rooms and the used dining room set given to her by a neighbor,” and tonight, the Biggs will be enjoying dinner around their dining room table. I hope we will soon look back on this struggle to ensure that every family can share a dinner table in their own home the way we look back on the civil rights struggle to share lunch counters: a lesson for the history books, but no longer appropriate in an America that recognizes all its residents’ basic human rights.

-Eric Tars, Human Rights Program Director

Photo credit: Khell Center, Cornell University

On June 1, three members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested for sharing food with hungry people in a park in downtown Orlando.  Such news is almost incomprehensible.  People arrested for helping out people in need. Unfortunately, as shocking as this news is, it is not unfamiliar. Cities around the country have used laws to target and move homeless people out of downtown areas for decades.

But, now our cities have stooped even lower, so that we can’t even allow members of our communities to help out one another. What kind of a message does this send to our community members?  What about our children?  Do we want them to grow up learning that serving those in need is not only not worthwhile, but something to be punished?

The ordinance that these three people violated is one that requires groups sharing food with 25 or more people in certain downtown parks to obtain a permit to do so. And groups are only allowed two  such permits per covered park per year. Given that certain central locations and regularly scheduled meals at those locations tend to reach the most people (due to visibility and predictability), these restrictions make it more likely that people in need will not be able to access safe, nutritious food.

The ordinance has been tested in court and the 11^th Circuit recently issued an opinion upholding the law – although the district court overturned the law.  Clearly, the City of Orlando is taking its cue from the court to recommence enforcement of the law, but to what end?

The penalties for violating this ordinance are 60 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. In a time when budgets are strapped and human services are being cut, city resources should be going to helping homeless people move beyond homelessness, instead of incarcerating those who want to help.  Jail costs are extraordinarily high, especially in comparison to the cost of housing and shelter.  It does not make any fiscal or practical sense to use police, jail, and court resources to address this issue.

Putting aside the fiscal aspects of enforcement of this ordinance, it is clear our communities need to do some soul searching. We need to do better than this.  We need to show future generations that it is poverty, hunger, and homelessness that should not be tolerated, not the acts of compassion to address them.

For more information about the criminalization of homelessness, check out the report card we released today on housing rights in the United States.

-Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Program Director

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon

Welcome to the 2012 election. In states across the country, Republican controlled legislatures are passing bills that would restrict the ability of homeless and low income Americans to vote. Rejecting an amendment to allow homeless persons to vote with an affidavit of identity from a service provider, Wisconsin will now require voters to provide ID in order to vote. And Florida’s new law will require anyone who has moved to update their address before going to the polls; if they seek to do so on election day they will be forced to vote by provisional ballot – a ballot unlikely to be counted.

Proponents of these laws assert that they will prevent voter fraud. However, they can hardly point to any actual examples. So why is this being done? Isn’t it obvious? No demographic group votes in a monolithic bloc. But we can make some generalizations – poor people tend to support candidates who promise to preserve the social safety net, who care about low wage workers, and who work to make sure that all Americans have safe, decent, affordable housing. The legislators passing these bills are not those candidates. We cannot allow these laws to stand or new laws to be passed. As we move closer to next year’s election, the Law Center will review and analyze these restrictions. We will challenge them when we can, and make policy arguments in opposition where that provides our best chance for success. And when new laws are enacted, we will make sure that homeless persons and service providers understand their rights.

Voting rights are fundamental civil and human rights – rights that people in this country died for not too many years ago. They should be continuously expanded, not eroded.

-Jeremy Rosen, Policy Director

Photo Credit: Vaguely Artistic

This week the Los Angeles Times published an article discussing the settlements of several hospitals that have dumped homeless patients at shelters or on the streets without following proper discharge procedures.  Other news articles in the past have explored the same topic, describing, for instance, how a homeless woman was once discharged to Los Angeles’ Skid Row with nothing but a hospital gown and slippers on.

Even under ordinary discharge situations, homeless individuals face a larger set of obstacles in post-hospital recovery than non-homeless individuals.  Homeless people are more likely to face difficulty in obtaining adequate food and rest, and in finding shelter in sanitary and unexposed environments.  These factors make it difficult for homeless individuals to maintain good health under average circumstances, even more so under improper discharge situations.

Several of the patient dumping situations cited in the article have led to costly settlements for hospital groups, such as $125,000 in penalties and charitable contributions paid by Centinela Freeman Holdings, and $1.6 million paid by College Hospital.  Settlements like these may lead hospital groups to think twice before engaging in improper discharge procedures, and could potentially help protect the interests of homeless individuals in the future.

In the long run however, punishing hospitals for homeless patient dumping will not address the underlying factors that create the problem.  Our nation was founded on the concept that all human beings are born equal and deserving of the same right to basic human dignity, yet these practices show how far we have strayed from that ideal. Our nation will need to confront the formidable healthcare and housing barriers that low-income and homeless individuals face daily before we will truly see the situation improve.

Articles such as Malcolm Gladwell’s “Million-Dollar Murray” show how costly it can be not to provide adequate housing and healthcare for homeless individuals.  Certainly, it is in our best interest economically to help homeless individuals attain a higher level of security and health. But equally as important, no human being deserves to be treated like trash, and we all need to take responsibility to re-humanize homeless persons so incidents like these never happen again.

-Stefani Cox, Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow

Photo credit: Jose Gulao

My father immigrated to this country as a refugee following World War II, believing, as many did, and continue to do, that the awful conditions he experienced in refugee camps would be left behind in the Old World. The poem on the Statue of Liberty that welcomed my father and countless others to the U.S. reads, “Give me your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

In last week’s posting, I talked about another international visitor to our shores, the UN Independent Expert on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, who was conducting a mission to the U.S., and going to visit a tent city in Sacramento, CA. The testimony she heard there, put together by our partners at Legal Services of Northern California and Safe Ground was compelling, and the Independent Expert was moved to strong words in discussing it in her preliminary report, issued on Friday:

As a part of the mission, I examined the situation of the homeless with regard to access to water and sanitation. Up to 3.5 million people experience homelessness in the United States every year. In some U.S. cities, homelessness is being increasingly criminalized. Local statutes prohibiting public urination and defecation, while facially constitutional are often discriminatory in their effects. Such discrimination often occurs because such statutes are enforced against homeless individuals, who often have no access to public restrooms and are given no alternatives.

In Sacramento, California I visited a community of homeless people. I met Tim, who called himself the “sanitation technician” for this community. He engineered a sanitation system that consists of a seat with a two-layered plastic bag underneath. Every week Tim collects the bags full of human waste, which vary in weight between 130 to 230 pounds, and hauls them on his bicycle a few miles to a local public restroom. Once a toilet becomes available, he empties the bags’ contents; packs the plastic bags with leftover residue inside a third plastic bag; ties it securely and disposes of them in the garbage; and then he sanitizes his hands with water and lemon. Tim has said that even though this job is difficult, he does it for the community, especially the women. The fact that Tim is left to do this is unacceptable, an affront to human dignity and a violation of human rights that may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. An immediate, interim solution is to ensure access to restrooms facilities in public places, including during the night.

That these conditions persist in 2011, right here in our backyard, in camps like those visited by the Independent Expert, belies our ideal of an America lying beyond that “golden door” and should shame us. Our governments not only condone the existence of these conditions but, rather than doing something constructive to alleviate the problem, criminalize those who have no choice but to live with their dignity impaired. This should move every American to demand better.

-Eric Tars, Human Rights Program Director

Photo credit: Ludovic Bertron

What’s something we do each day, but rarely think about, let alone discuss in public?

Going to the bathroom.

But when you’re homeless or poor, what most people take for granted can be a huge challenge, even a life-altering decision.

Forces beyond homeless persons’ control, such as lack of affordable housing and emergency shelter, compel them to live and take care of their basic human needs in public. When performed inside, these acts are unquestionably legal.  But cities are punishing homeless persons for the very same life-sustaining actions when they are forced to perform them in public spaces.

William Shumate, a 60 year-old veteran living in St. Petersburg, Florida, typifies the problems faced by many homeless persons. William has diabetes, which makes it difficult to control his urination, especially overnight when bathroom facilities are closed. St. Petersburg has local ordinances that prohibit public urination and defecation, but make no allowance for situations when public bathrooms are unavailable. On November 1, 2007, William was sleeping near City Hall when he woke up around 1:00 am with an uncontrollable need to urinate. Police followed him as he went around the side of the building, and arrested him.  William was sentenced to one day in jail and a fine of $300. (more…)

In today’s Washington Post, executive director Maria Foscarinis weighed in on an important discussion about panhandling, saying:

“Each individual begging for change has his or her own story. Not all are virtuous, not all are truthful. Neither are many people. But what is different is that unlike most of ‘us,’ beggars have very few options or resources…”

To read more of this thought-provoking letter, which appeared on the editorial page, click here.

People seem to be drawn to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty in many different ways. Some come to us because they are fighting to keep homeless children in school. Others come because they are interested in our work to prevent survivors of domestic violence from becoming homeless. And the list goes on. For me, it was an interest in (disgust with) the criminalization of homelessness. As a graduate student studying the rhetoric of homelessness in the United States, I was appalled by the growing trend toward punishing people for living their lives in public, especially when there’s no other option for them.

Since I’ve joined the Law Center’s staff, I have learned about countless ways it has influenced federal and local policies to both prevent and end homelessness. But on Thursday night, at our 12^th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards for homeless advocates, I was most deeply impacted by the remarks of our guests on criminalization.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan delivered the evening’s keynote address, “Ending Homelessness in Our Time.” As he spoke about the need for continued advocacy and about the hope of the new federal plan to prevent and end homelessness, he said, “You and I both know that criminalizing those who are homeless is not only morally wrong — it also does nothing to stop homelessness or improve the circumstances of those without a home. It serves only to increase costs — both in taxpayer dollars and in human suffering.”

That’s right. Criminalization only increases costs.

Surely, this is a compelling reason to stop these kinds of policies. But if that’s not reason enough, Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author and journalist, and the evening’s Stewart B. McKinney honoree, did what she does best: she put a face on the issue. Recounting the story of a homeless gentleman who was ticketed for sleeping outside, then pulled from shelter to a jail cell while staying at shelter for this offense, she decried these practices:

“I’m very impatient when nice people, liberal people, wring their hands and say, ‘What can we do about poverty?  Isn’t it so intractable and deeply rooted and multi-causal and multi-generational?’  And I answer, ‘No, it’s very simple.  The first thing we have to do is just stop the meanness.  Stop the persecution.  Stop kicking people when they’re already down.’  That’s what I’ve learned from the National Law Center.”

All of the evening’s honorees, including Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the Elzer Family, have fought to help protect people experiencing homelessness. And I, after sharing this evening with them, am renewed and inspired in my commitment to being a part of finding solutions to end and prevent homelessness in our country. No one should be without a home, and no one should be punished for not having a home.

Special thanks go to Bruce & Lori Laitman Rosenblum, presenting sponsors, and the Leonsis Foundation, event sponsors. Click here to learn more about our sponsors.

Not able to join us? See more photos from the awards here.

-Whitney Gent, Development & Communications Director

In the run-up to next Thursday’s McKinney-Vento Awards, we’ll be featuring a series of posts on our honorees and distinguished guests.  Make sure you keep checking back!

When you’re young, you have a pretty good idea of where you want to go, even if you don’t know how to get there.  But the path ahead is full of bends and switchbacks, and sometimes it’s for the better.

Barbara Ehrenreich studied chemistry, biology, and physics at Reed College, earning a PhD in cell biology in 1968.  But pursuing a scientific career didn’t quite feel right.  Barbara’s makeup had been permanently altered by her participation in the anti-Vietnam movement, and as a result, she ultimately became a social activist.

Writing wasn’t something she studied, or something she imagined doing when she was younger.  But it was a natural component of her activism, and she grew to love doing it.  Through the years, Barbara’s work has been published in Time Magazine, the New York Times, The Progressive, Mother Jones, and The Atlantic Monthly, among many others.

In 2001, Barbara published Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which measured the traditional view that “a job will defeat poverty” against the realities she encountered during two years of investigative reporting.  From Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she took low-paying jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson.  What she found was good people doing hard work – usually at more than one job, just to avoid living on the street.

The economic crisis has only worsened things, as more and more poor people slide into homelessness.  Barbara’s 2009 op-ed – titled “Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?” – drew attention to the disturbing trend of criminalizing homelessness.  Cities are making life-sustaining acts like eating or sleeping illegal.  In the op-ed, Barbara tells the story of a man charged with criminal trespassing for sleeping on a sidewalk.  When he didn’t show up for his court date, he was dragged out of the shelter where he was staying and put in jail.

Barbara’s ability to put a human face on social realities has helped establish her as one of the nation’s most powerful voices on poverty issues.  It’s a long way from cell biology, but the American dialogue is richer for it.

We hope you’ll join us when we honor Barbara at our 12^th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards on Thursday, October 14, at 6 pm.  Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the formerly homeless Elzer family will also be honored.  The evening’s keynote address will be delivered by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan.

Click here for more information and to purchase your tickets.

-Andy Beres, Grant Writer & Communications Assistant