The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice

Akhila Kolisetty, Fair Housing Paralegal, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Check out her blog and catch her on Twitter @akhilak.

Is it a crime to sleep outside? To beg for money on the streets? To store your personal belongings in public spaces? Is it a crime to be homeless?

In some states, it is. An excellent publication, “Homes not Handcuffs,” by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, reports that activities like sleeping, eating, sitting, and begging in public spaces can carry criminal penalties. Sometimes, homeless people are often selectively targeted for criminal cases involving loitering, jaywalking, trespassing, or open containers. The selective enforcement of “quality of life” and public decency laws (e.g. those involving public urination or personal hygiene) can also be detrimental - especially considering that homeless people often simply do not have access to the necessary public facilities, particularly at night. In some cities - like Orlando, Florida - groups who share food with homeless people can even be punished according to the law! These examples are not theoretical; people are actually being arrested for these “crimes” simply because they look different, because they are homeless. For instance, data shows that most of the individuals in the Pinellas County Jail (in St. Petersburg, FL) arrested on “municipal ordinances,” were actually homeless individuals.

In my job, I work every day with people who are victims of housing discrimination, many of whom have been evicted and now are homeless. I’ve learned that criminalizing homelessness simply makes it far more difficult for the homeless to get jobs, obtain housing, and reenter society. It pushes homeless people back into the margins of society, and creates a double stigma of individuals who are both homeless and have a criminal record. A criminal record erects further barriers that prevent homeless people from getting off the streets once and for all; it can create a vicious lifelong cycle of homelessness and short stints in jail or prison. 

Not to mention, criminalizing homelessness is expensive, and contributes to the overburdened court system. Los Angeles is one of the worst cities to be homeless in. A 2007 study by UCLA revealed that over the span of 11 months, 24 individuals were arrested 201 times, resulting in a cost of $3.6. million. This exorbitant cost came from the need to involve police, defense layers, prosecutors, the courts, investigators, and the jail system in dealing with homeless people — many of whom were arrested for nominal charges like jaywalking and loitering. Research showed that this money could have instead provided housing for 225 individuals. We should be investing in social services, not the justice system, when it comes to solving the problem of homelessness.   

Plus, these types of policies have the effect of removing people from the streets, thus implying that homeless people are somehow less than human, and an embarrassment to the city. These policies essentially separate the homeless from the “general” population and are thus highly discriminatory in nature. The homeless are human beings too, with their own stories, struggles, challenges, and personalities. Most of all, they have human dignity. And they deserve to be treated as such by the rest of us, as well as law enforcement.  

Finally, criminalizing the homeless seems to indicate a government position of out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, the problem of homelessness cannot be solved by rounding up the poor and putting them in jail. We need to instead focus on expanding social safety nets, government benefits, and affordable (and free) housing options like shelters, transitional housing, housing vouchers, and subsidized housing for those in need. We need to increase the emphasis on preventative measures as well - like preventing evictions and simply, working together to expand social services in order to eradicate poverty from our country.

The criminalization of homelessness does not solve any problems, and it only creates new ones for taxpayers, the overburdened justice system, and the homeless alike. Let us grant homeless people the dignity they deserve, and let us search for better solutions to this problem outside the criminal justice sector.

Watch this video to hear the story of Ed, a homeless man in New Orleans. He talks about the laws in New Orleans, and how they affect his daily life.

If you liked the video, also check out http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/, an amazing Vlog that aims to tell the stories of the homeless, and restore some dignity to them in the process.