http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/14/1411916/-DOJ-Affirms-the-Legal-Right-to-Sleep-even-if-homeless?detail=email
Living homeless isn’t easy. The "homeless" part isn't compatible with "living." And a spate of recent legislation has made it even more difficult by banning camping, sleeping (even in parked vehicles), and often sitting/lying in public places. A recent Department of Justice (DOJ) Statement of Interest has ruled that these prohibitions may be “cruel and unusual punishment.” Basically, they said it is unconstitutional to penalize people for sleeping outside if there are not enough beds available in local shelters.
Sleeping is a life-sustaining activity — i.e., it must occur at some time in some place. If a person literally has nowhere else to go, then enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance against that person criminalizes her for being homeless.
The DOJ issued a Statement of Interest in a case filed against Boise, Idaho by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) and Idaho Legal Aid Services on behalf of local homeless people (Janet F. Bell, et al vs City of Boise). The 6 August 2015 decision references a previous decision (Jones v. City of Los Angeles, 2006-07) and states (bold added for emphasis)
The Jones court found enforcement of the ordinance to be unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiffs because of inadequate shelter space. The court based its decision on its conclusion that, “[w]hether sitting, lying, and sleeping are defined as acts or conditions, they are universal and unavoidable consequences of being human.”
Because sleeping is unavoidable, the court then considered whether the plaintiffs had a choice to sleep somewhere other than in public, concluding that they did not: “for homeless individuals in [Los Angeles’] Skid Row who have no access to private spaces, these acts can only be done in public.” As a result, the court found that sleeping in public is “involuntary and inseparable from” an individual’s status or condition of being homeless when no shelter space is available.
Investing in shelters and other housing is cost-effective, though. The NLCHP study determined that providing housing is cheaper than managing and penalizing homeless people.
Investing in shelters and other housing is cost-effective, though. The NLCHP study determined that providing housing is cheaper than managing and penalizing homeless people.
— The annual cost of emergency room visits and jail stays for
an average homeless person was $16,670, while providing an apartment and a social worker cost only $11,000.
— By providing housing, the city reduced spending on homelessness-related jail costs by 64%.
— Providing chronically homeless people with permanent housing and case managers would save taxpayers $149 million in reduced law enforcement and medical care costs over the next decade.
The study recommended that both federal and state governments invest in affordable housing and decriminalization of homelessness.
— The federal government should invest in affordable housing at the scale necessary to end and prevent homelessness.
— The federal government should play
a leadership role in combatting the criminalization of homelessness by local governments and promote constructive alternatives.
— State governments should enact and enforce Homeless Bill of Rights legislation that explicitly prohibits the criminalization of homelessness.
— Local governments should stop criminalizing homelessness.
politicians are IMO the bigger opponent next to media who report these things using buzz words to incite indignance like urinating that too is a human function politicians refuse any help denying the fate of some vets included the right to shelter riches, greatest country in the world who's zoomin' who????????
good move by DOJ but no cigar decades of ignoring vs. a sudden stroke of humanity nah you don't get a slap on the back for doing your job recognition yeah but again no cigar.
then the media rarely covers cause and effect just the civil distress that this happens placing blame on the end result of a pre planned action by those who refuse to address it. then there's us the American citizens who selfishly step over or around them turn nose's up and scowl at their presence, but not all of us but enough to balance off the indifference of those of us who aren't as discriminating but not motivated to help so those 3 factions create the environment that keeps the status quo. Stevie wonder has lyrics that hit it on the head,
