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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInvisible People Report: Criminalization of Homelessness Continues to Increase
The Summer of 2019 in Austin, TX will go down in history. At this time, steps were made to decriminalize homelessness in The Lone Star State. On June 21, after much discussion with the #HomesNotHandcuffs Coalition, the Capital City officially voted to amend some of the legislation criminalizing homelessness in the region.
Meanwhile, in Sacramento County, anti-camping laws came under fire, making sleeping on public property legal in instances where shelter beds are unavailable.
And, in 2018, a three-judge panel in the city of Boise declared the citys anti-camping laws unconstitutional. Due to that groundbreaking court ruling, neighboring cities have questioned the morality of their own urban camping bans. Many see enforcement as inhumane or, at the very least, a last resort response to the growing homeless crisis.
Read more at https://invisiblepeople.tv/criminalization-of-homelessness-continues-to-increase
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Response to Lady Freedom Returns (Original post)
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TheRealNorth
(9,435 posts)Going to help these people get a job a or get the help they need. I have read that on some of the really expensive areas, some of the homeless even have jobs.
Any local politician voting to throw the homeless in jail needs to be thrown out of office.
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)
These laws are hateful and expensive on multiple levels. Osceola County, Florida alone spent a jaw-dropping $5,081,680 to repeatedly imprison the same 37 homeless people over and over again. For homeless people, getting back up after one or more citations can prove an impossible feat.
Having a criminal record, even for non-violent offenses like public camping, panhandling, or loitering is likely to make landlords think twice about taking a chance on housing a homeless person.
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)Will end up homeless, kicking to give some idea what they will face if they have no family to lean on.
Volaris
(10,260 posts)If you've got a job and are paying your damned taxes, you should be able to sleep wherever the hell you want...including in a tent if you choose to.
There isn't a whole lot of libertarian streak in me, but this is one of those things that makes me say 'the government can fuck right off.'
Again, this isn't hypothetical, its based on personal experience. We should be subsidizing or standardizing the ever living shit out of housing and rental prices...ymmv.