Homelessness being outlawed

A San Diego Police officer picks up a bag of trash while conducting a homeless encampment sweep in San Diego, CA, August 2021Photo byVoice of San Diego - Adriana Heldiz

As stated by The Zebra in their History of U.S. Homeownership: how housing has changed since 1960, “The United States is in the midst of a housing crisis.” They report that 40 million renters are currently at risk of eviction. That equates to almost half of the renters in the U.S. in serious danger of losing their homes. While minority residents, primarily Black and LatinX, are disproportionately affected by this, the current economic situation has caused this to hit all races.

In many cases, rising home prices have forced many would-be homebuyers to rent instead. Management companies across the nation have taken notice and been purchasing homes to use as rental properties, further increasing costs by reducing the number of homes for sale to individuals and families. With that increased demand of rental properties, rental rates have also increased. It is estimated by Business Insider that over nine million potential buyers “have been priced out of the market by the surge in home prices since 2022.”

Similarly, rental rates for both houses and apartments has been on the incline. Averaging $1,900 per month overall, average asking rents for houses are over $2,000 per month with apartments averaging just under $1,700. Even though unemployment is reported to be lower than the long term average of 5.70 percent, the current rate of 3.90 percent is an increase over last month and almost a half percentage point higher than this time last year.

Combining higher rents with higher unemployment logically only produces higher homelessness.

On May 21, this journalist and his family were scheduled to be “set out” from their home due to eviction. The Deputy Constable in charge of the process, Sherri Pierce of Tarrant County Precinct 7, had already performed 24 such evictions that morning before arriving to the home at 10:00am. Granted all of the earlier evictions had occurred at the same apartment complex, but this Deputy Constable ended up performing 25 such actions before noon that day. She stated that this was the worst she had seen in her over 20 years as a Deputy Constable.

Each odd-numbered year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) performs a count of homeless people. HUD has two categories for homeless people: sheltered and unsheltered; and HUD considers persons in both categories to be “homeless.” Homeless persons are defined as those living:

• in emergency shelters
• in transitional shelters
• in “safe havens” that serve homeless persons with severe mental illness
• in hotels/motels
• outdoors
• in cars
• in abandoned buildings
• in other places unfit for human habitation
• with friends, if unable to stay more than 14 days

After largely declining between 2007 and 2022, homelessness abruptly reversed course in 2023 with an increase of 12.1 percent. Based on personal experience and the statement by Deputy Constable Pierce, it seems that this trend is continuing through 2024. According to Eviction Lab, over 1.1 million evictions have been filed in the past year, with almost 76,000 in the past month.

As evictions and homelessness are on the rise, cities and states are attempting to draw in new residents through beautification efforts. Some of that “beautification” includes moving the homeless into the shadows and out of the public view.

Washington State Department of Transportation workers clear a homeless encampmentPhoto byKIRO Radio/WSDOT

States like Texas and Florida have passed laws prohibiting camping on public property without authorization. Localities such as Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, and Grand Junction, Colorado, as well as many others, have instituted ordinances that go beyond the state laws. These ordinances prohibit sleeping in private parking lots, even with the owner’s permission, if certain requirements are not met.

Passed on the pretense of protecting public health, these laws and ordinances are taking away places for the homeless to sleep, or to even be. As Florida became the 18th state to outlaw camping in public places, Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the new law by saying, “it will help maintain and ensure that Florida streets are clean and that Florida streets are safe for residents.” Similarly, Mayor Mattie Parker of Fort Worth, Texas, proclaimed in her first State of the City Address that she wants to make the city a “World Class” city. Shortly thereafter, she had a homeless refuge on Lancaster Avenue under I-35W, near missions and others who provide services to the homeless, cleared and declared “off limits.”

Mayor Parker and Gov. DeSantis want to make their respective areas “World Class” by beautifying them and bringing in technology industries and new residents. The Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2014 defined what being “World Class” means: a modern skyline, a high level of efficiency, and an absence of visible signs of poverty.

The final item of that list has been the focus of cities across the nation: providing an absence of visible signs of poverty.

To do this, mayors and city councils, and governors from all over have been surreptitiously making it illegal to be homeless. By removing the legality of sleeping outside of a home or shelter within city limits or on state property essentially outlaws homelessness and further degrades the humanity of those who are without shelter due to no fault of their own.