The 2-to-1 ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, essentially invalidated a 37-year-old ordinance that the police have used to clear homeless people off the streets.
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The Los Angeles police responded by releasing a statement that said: "The condition of being homeless in and of itself is not a crime and should not be treated as such. But the criminal element that preys upon the homeless and mentally ill will be targeted, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
It added, "The department will continue to work with the city's political leadership and the courts to find solutions to help keep the homeless safe and off the streets."
Being homeless definitely isn't a crime and should never be treated as such. One of the main problems, besides the lack of effective, preventative measures, is the lack of shelters and adequate housing which are constantly being challenged by the NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude.
I worked with the homeless for years and I can tell you that society in general has a lot of catching up to do. I have yet to encounter a city that provides enough shelter spaces to adequately meet the needs of those who have fallen through the cracks - especially families with children.
Homeless clients must be hooked up with agencies that can follow up with them over time in order to access the resources they need to deal with their problems, which are often varied and complex. Rounding up the homeless and throwing them in jail solves nothing. It just creates a revolving door of incarceration and fosters animosity towards the police.
It seems ridiculous that Los Angeles had this broad-worded ordinance on the books for so many years which would apply, if enforced, to anyone - homeless or not - who simply sat, laid down or fell asleep on a city street resulting in a possible fine of $10,000 or a sentence of 6 months in jail.
It's long past the time for civic governments all over North America to not only provide shelter spaces, but to make available good, low-income housing to those who need it. The waiting list for that type of housing in my city of Calgary, Alberta has some 2,500+ while housing prices keep rising significantly because the province is in the middle of yet another oil boom.
At any given time, 45-50% of the homeless in my city are working poor who cannot scrape together enough money for a security deposit and first month's rent. Social assistance for those unable to work is very difficult to get and amounts to approximately $400/month for a single person - nowhere near what it costs to rent a bachelor or one bedroom apartment in a city that consistently has a near 0% vacancy rate. Yet, the resources homeless people need are in the cities, so it's a Catch-22 situation.
Housing the homeless is just the beginning of what can often be a long road back into mainstream society. Acquiring decent paying work with benefits, dealing with mental and physical health issues or addiction problems that hinder some to the point where they are almost incapacitated, working out domestic violence issues involving sometimes very traumatized children and parents and dealing with a variety of legal problems all prevent major stumbling blocks. Agencies tasked to deal with these realities are often horribly underfunded as governments at every level have downloaded responsibilities to non-profit groups and/or churches.
The challenges are enormous and the effects of antiquated laws such as the one overturned in Los Angeles simply cause more harm than good. The poor are often invisible. Making them moreso by jailing them only allows society to remain in denial over what is a huge human rights issue that we must all face in order to resolve.
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