America’s Homelessness Crisis?
The homelessness crises across the U.S. are expected to eclipse any economic rebound in the nation’s densest areas with little hope for any substantial near-term improvement.As the number of people who are homeless rises across the nation, more towns and states have implemented legislation outlawing sleeping in public areas or living in vehicles or tents. According to the National Homelessness Law Center, similar prohibitions have been legal for many years in more than 100 counties. In numerous western U.S. cities and across entire states, high-profile policies aimed at reducing homelessness have recently been authorised.
According to federal statistics, 582,462 persons were homeless on one night in January 2022. As housing costs rise, experts warn that more people will become homeless, as has been the case for decades in areas like New York and much of California.
Laws that criminalise fundamental needs like sleeping and sheltering oneself will be easier to enact if visible, unsheltered homelessness keeps increasing, Eric Tars, legal director for the National Homelessness Law Center, told USA TODAY. “The danger is that the worse the housing situation gets, the more people we see on the streets, the more will be the push for these punitive policies,” Tars said.
Tenting or sleeping on public property is prohibited by these states’ and cities’ adopted legislation:
Missouri bans sleeping in parks
In Missouri, it is now illegal to sleep in public areas like parks or beneath bridges as of January 1 due to a statewide ban on doing so.Because it applies to the entire state and puts additional pressure on top of municipal restrictions, experts say Missouri’s law is troubling.It is incorrect to believe those who are homeless may merely leave their current state and move to another, Tars remarked.According to Stateline, a news service run by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Missouri’s law also limits public assistance for permanent housing and was modelled after a piece of model legislation written by the conservative Cicero Institute.
Tenting overstaying is a crime in Tennessee
Tenting or sleeping on state property became a crime in Tennessee for the first time in July. According to Pew, lawmakers in five additional states have recently proposed statewide bans. “Policies like this are making homelessness worse,” Tars claimed, citing the significant obstacles that an arrest, jail sentence, and criminal record pose to finding work, obtaining housing, and utilising social services.
Portland, Oregon, prohibits camping in tents
In Portland, Oregon, the City Council decided in November to adopt a plan to outlaw tent camping and move campers into six city-approved large encampment sites with a capacity of 250 people. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the proposal calls for the construction of 20,000 more affordable housing units and eventually would force everyone who is now living on the streets to enter shelters. Tina Kotek, the newly-elected governor of Oregon, began her tenure this week by announcing a state of emergency for Portland and other areas of the state that have witnessed sharp rises in the number of people living without shelter.
Washoe County, Nevada, is thinking of banning
In a 3-2 vote in December, the Washoe County Commissioners in Nevada decided to consider an ordinance that would prohibit sleeping in cars or tents and keeping personal things out in the open if it would cause “substantial injury to any person, or public space.” A $500 fine or a misdemeanour prosecution might be brought against violators. Similar rules were already in effect in Reno and Sparks within the county.
Los Angeles forbids some homeless camps
After teachers and parents complained that students couldn’t access surrounding walkways, a City Council-approved ban on tent dwelling in some locations was broadened in August 2022 to forbid encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare facilities.According to EdSource, a Californian publication covering education, school administrators have said that the city and police don’t always enforce the restriction.The homeless problem has lately prompted the mayors of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Los Angeles County to proclaim states of emergency in an effort to expedite services to end and prevent homelessness.
Pic credit- gettyimages.in