The Criminalization of Homelessness

"As homelessness has grown in the United States over the past two decades, so have laws that essentially criminalize those who have no home. In a misguided attempt to grapple with the phenomenon of people living on our streets, city governments have passed laws that make it illegal to sit, sleep and eat in public spaces. These laws criminally penalize our poor and homeless neighbors merely for the fact that they have no place else to go.

The 2005 Hunger and Homelessness Survey of 24 cities conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors shows that the homeless situation is getting worse. Even while requests for emergency shelter increased by 6 percent from the previous year, cities fell far short of providing adequate shelter space to meet the need. According to the survey, an average of 14 percent of overall emergency shelter requests went unmet along with 32 percent of shelter requests by homeless families. This lack of available shelter space—a situation made worse by the Gulf Coast hurricanes—leaves many homeless persons with no choice but to struggle to survive on the streets of our cities.

Laws that criminalize homelessness are not only an inhumane way to treat some of our most vulnerable neighbors, but they frequently pose constitutional problems and do nothing to address the underlying causes of homelessness. Many of these measures have been successfully challenged in court as violations of homeless persons’ civil rights."