Criminalized Homelessness?

Has anyone heard about this? Apparently, there are numerous cities nationwide in which it is illegal to be homeless.

I was investigating allegations by a reader that the Green Party is communist. Their party platform isn't a great read -- the PDF is 115 pages long and pretty dense -- but a few things caught my eye. Among them was a mention of the Green Party's commitment to "repeal laws that criminalize homelessness." As someone who has been homeless, that interested me, so I researched it, and discovered that for a really long time now, and at an increasing rate, many larger cities and some municipalities, and even entire countries, have made it illegal to be homeless. So, you lose your job, can't get a new one, miss your rent payment, and you're living in your car -- then you get sent to jail for it.

My experience with homelessness was admittedly very different from the people targeted by the laws mentioned in the links above. I had foreseen it and prepared for it, both materially and mentally, and when it happened I eschewed urban areas and set up my one-man tent city in a forested area near the Lehigh Gap. The area was subject to intense mineral exploration during the Industrial Revolution, so most of the forest overlaid overburden piles, the loose rocks and gravel of which make for excellent and sanitary latrines. I disposed of waste by hauling it out to public trash receptacles, or composting on a pile several hundred yards from my campsite. The forests of Pennsylvania possess bountiful food sources for those who know where to look, and my naturally reclusive nature made it bearable, even desirable -- I still miss it sometimes. The Gap's proximity to the Appalachian Trail gave me occasional access to human companionship, and there are three small towns within walking distance, so I never felt cut off from society. But hardly anyone even knew I was there. There were a few tense moments when hunters began arriving, but I was gone within days of the opening day of deer season, having procured the lucrative employment situation I still hold.

There are two major causes of homelessness which I see, based on research and my own contact with other homeless:

1. A deteriorating economic situation which results in job loss, loss of savings, and eventual loss of paid lodging.
2. Inability to cope with drug or alcohol addiction or mental illness.

The problem with homelessness comes from the fact that the majority of Americans have never been homeless, and thus are unable to distinguish the two categories. All homeless tend to get lumped in together, defined as a "problem" which requires harsh legislation. On the one hand, the truly criminal homeless create difficulties for residents with thefts, aggressive panhandling, littering, public drunkenness, and other mayhem. On the other, some people just run into a long string of bad luck, a problem which has become endemic since the '08 Crash. The problem is compounded by the fact that aid groups do exist, but generally target specific demographics. As a single woman with no children and no drug problem, I was unable to secure lodging at any of the homeless shelters in the Allentown/Bethlehem area. Pets pose a major problem for many shelters, as well.

In this article from the Seattle Times, we find a homeless community struggling to cope with increasingly hostile residents. While the community appears to be taking every step to keep their tent city safe and sanitary, the problems are coming, again, from the criminal element, people who have rejected civil behavior and live a largely hedonistic homeless lifestyle. Paid residents of the area are understandably upset over the disruptions, but the tent city seems to be increasingly viewed as the source of the problems. 

Again, I'm seeing a tendency for humans to revert to ape-like thinking, generalizing other people into broad categories of "otherness" and branding all in those categories as identical. "They all look alike." Or act alike, or think alike, et cetera. I think that many people could benefit from a short spell of homelessness, if only to understand the dehumanizing treatment the homeless receive at the hands of general society. The stigma alone can be crippling. People are perennially amazed at my willing to even admit that I was homeless, let alone discuss the particulars of my experience. To me, it's a point of pride. I lost everything, but forged a new life for myself. Also, I never panhandled, I supported myself by my own effort, and I never created a nuisance for others while homeless (except for one poor hunter, who may have required a change of underwear -- sorry about that, guy). Many, many homeless and former homeless can make most of the same claims. But many more were and are unprepared for life on the fringes of society, and desperate people will often take desperate actions. It is that criminal element which needs to be specifically targeted for legislation, as with every other aspect of society, and not those who are struggling to remain civil.

We need to change our thinking on homelessness. In a future blog, I'll detail certain points of my experience, and how I managed to cope with being homeless. In the meantime, remember that homeless people are still people, and being homeless does not change that.