Since the US Supreme Court City of Grants Pass against Johnson A ruling in June last year allowing towns to ban the outdoor campsite, even if there is no available space for the homeless shelter, about 150 cities in 32 states have passed or strengthened such ordinances.
According to data sent to Stateline by the National Homeless Center, there are another 40 local bans in progress. The funds differ in detail, but they usually include camps on campsite, sleeping or storage of real estate in public land. Many also include buffer zones near schools, parks or companies.
The bans often allow steep fines and prison. For example, in Indio, California, people illegally caught camping penalty up to 1000 USD and up to six months in prison. . ordinance In Fresno, California, he prohibits, lying, sleeping, sleeping or bothering at anywhere, anywhere, with a penalty of up to a year in prison. Elmira, New York, includes sleeping in vehicles in his own Campside ban.
Proponents and experts of the residential provide for an escalate in camping bans in 2025. Proponents of prohibitions say that homeless camps are threatened with nearby residents and enterprises. Critics say that the bans simply criminalize apparent street homelessness and move it elsewhere.
“The idea of anti-staff recipes is to make homelessness so uncomfortable that people will not want to experience it. But homelessness is already extremely uncomfortable, especially during disasters, “said Samantha Batko, a senior member of the residential and community department at the Urban Institute. “The criminalization of homelessness does not solve the problem – he simply punishes people, makes it difficult for them to find apartments or work, and are stuck in a cycle of instability.”
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California has the largest number of camping bans, with over 40 ordinances that have been transferred or introduced since July. It also has about 30% of homeless people in the country, and then New York, Florida and the state of Washington, in accordance with the American development of apartments and cities report to Congress in 2022.
California Democratic News Governor He has invested heavily in the settlement of Camp and ApartmentsBy allocating $ 131 million to communes after issuing a subsidy decision. He too he published executive order to cities to “urgently take care of the homeless camps.”
Elizabeth Funk, general director of Dignimimoves, a non-profit organization that helps the cities of California in solving homelessness, expects an escalate in anti-orbidic policy in 2025. Despite the fact that the subsidy decision may require the cities of building more transient shelters.
“This is really a political decision and we chose that the only important use of taxpayers’ money is a permanent apartment. But the reality is this … We cannot build the fact that for a million dollars per unit, “said Funk. “Grants Pass removes the excuse that cities cannot work. Homelessness is unwavering – it starts with providing a roof. “
– What are we doing?
Florida was updated lawLast year, it requires poviats and municipalities to ban sleeping or camping in public spaces, such as parks, pavements and many beaches.
Many local governments have tried to introduce local ordinances to comply with the law. And from January 1, residents and company owners have the right Sue Municipalities, if local efforts to homeless are considered insufficient. The state has about 31,000 homeless residents.
Gainesville in Florida, the mayor of Harvey Ward said that the requirements of the state did not change the city’s reaction to homelessness dramatically.
The city of GainaSville noticed Philosophical misunderstandings with you when they have passed the regulation against flash In December, to avoid potential legal actions regarding non -compliance. The regulation does not have prison time, but contains a fine.
Ward said in an interview that he noticed a significant decrease in a apparent chronic homelessness on the city community square from a decade ago, which he assigns about the opening of a larger number of shelter space over the years.
“The good news is that we no longer have 100 people at night sleeping on the square of the community. I see progress. I’m just not sure how to make this kind of jump again, “said Ward, who is a registered democrat, although the mayor’s position is impartial.
He said that the mandate also complicates how Gainesville and other cities react to chronic street homelessness, especially given Lower expenses in Florida on mental health services.
“The idea that the problem is such a small number of people – less than 1000 chronic homeless people each year – and no matter how much it seems, we don’t spend enough to fix it is very frustrating,” is very frustrating, “he said Ward.
“We became a plateau. There are people who for any reason either cannot be admitted to shelter because of previous problems or refuse to leave. But they don’t do anything illegal, so what are we doing? How do we help someone who rejects the services and does not break the law? “
“Nobody decides to sleep outside”
The escalate in ordinances against the camp after a subsidy decision was a predictable result, even in cities that do not have other options for people who do not have homes, said Jesse Rabinowitz, director of campaign and communication at the National Homelesness Law Center.
“A big misunderstanding is that people decide to be homeless. But nobody decides to sleep outside. People are forced to homelessness because selected officials do not provide safe and inexpensive apartments, “said Rabinowitz. “The approach to the subsidy – making the cities inhospitable to force people to leave – was previously tried. It is expensive, ineffective and only extends homelessness. “
However, the approach quickly gains on the ground.
In November, Voters from Arizona approved the vote Enabling real estate owners to apply for reimbursement of public costs when the government does not enforce the provisions related to camping and bidding.
LED Republicans Bill In Washington State, six communes have passed or strengthened the ordinances against the camp’s location from the time of issuing a subsidy decision-would require most local governments to ban camp near schools and parks until May 2027. This would offer subsidies for the camp, but also would attract financing from a town that does not enforce the prohibition. The act remains on the committee.
Among state cities, Valley is a banned, which updated his regulation last autumn. The updates include improving the violation of being in the city park after gloomy from the civic offense to the offense and change of the definition of “camping” to sleep overnight or without camping equipment.
Not much has changed with the enforcement of the law in the transient months, wrote the spokesman of the city Jill Smith We -Mail to Stateline. She said that the city also has several employees devoted to connecting incapable residents with services, and added a second police officer in December.
Devon Kurtz, director of the Public Security Policy at Cicero Institute, a conservative Think Tank, claims that camping bans are necessary to solve perilous camp and unintentional homelessness, and that they can be part of a system that helps the reluctance of individuals to receive facilitate.
In a recently published interview for the philanthropy of the Round Table, which advises conservative philanthropists, Kurtz warned that “homeless camps are toxic environments filled with waste and rubbish and are often habitats of crime.”
Supporters in many states are repelled. After successful efforts about the petition of local residents, the city of Morgantown, Western Virginia will allow voters to make a decision in April, or to repeal a modern camping ban has passed last autumn. From November, the city had 28 beds of shelter to serve the estimated homeless population of 150.
Are they working?
AND 2024 rand study It was found that the changes in politics – such as the sweeping camp and camping bans – in three districts in Los Angeles temporarily reduced apparent homelessness, but within a few months the populations slightly poured increased in two communities and doubled in the third.
The study showed that chronic problems related to mental and physical health and disorders of the utilize of substances concerned more than half of the respondents, with the inhabitants of slippery rows the oldest and the least well.
Experts also say that these provisions are ineffective and costly, z The federal report on 2020 is located in four cities Cost $ 1,672 to USD 6 208 per person unwavering a year.
Jeremy Ney, a data researcher he publishes American unevenness The newsletter said that although the lack of inexpensive apartments is the basic cause of growing homelessness, the reactions to homelessness must be accompanied by politicians who relate to other chronic stability barriers.
“The apartments themselves are not enough. We also need employment, mental health, addiction and social services that can provide people in these homes, “NEY said.
