If you ignore something for long enough, does it go away?
Maybe in the forefront of our minds, where denial lives. But I suspect that in the back of our minds and in our hearts, the story is entirely different. Mere flashing images of a subjugated people occur from time to time in the minds of those who consider themselves too important to pay proper attention to them. But I think that when you stop for even a moment, you might find yourself in a state of anxious despair at the notion of human suffering, and eventually you’ll find yourself agitated with structures situating people in these circumstances. Maybe you’ll find yourself guilty of turning such a blind eye, proceeding to vow never to repeat the mistake of indifference,
though I won’t presume to know how you feel…
What I’m talking about is of course applicable to a varying number of injustices so you can carry the message with you even after reading about todays specific topic. But where we’re thinking about that which we see so frequently to the point of desensitisation, our disregard of homelessness crisis is the most relevant here.
Grant pass v. Johnson – A case against cruel and unusual punishment
Currently, the US supreme court is about to hear a case that will determine if cities can fine or jail people for sleeping outside, at a time where homelessness is at its highest point in the last 16 years. At the moment, homelessness is already criminalised in Austin (Tx), Nevada and parts of Washington as well as elsewhere, but this case stands to have nationwide impact.
The case will consider the extent to which cities can prevent homeless people from sleeping in public places. Resulting primarily from a lack of affordable housing, pandemic-related economic challenges, and limited access to mental health and addiction treatment, homelessness is a very real and increasingly concerning epidemic. Right now, California leads the nation in homelessness, with over 180,000 finding themselves without permanent shelter (as of January 2023). Grants Pass, Oregon, appealed a federal ruling that declared its ban on using blankets, pillows, or cardboard shelters for having violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling was influenced by the 2018 Martin v Boise decision, a lawsuit resulting in the ruling that cities can’t enforce anti-camping ordinances should they fail to provide sufficient accommodation for the homeless population. Those like Governor Gavin Newsom of California have been seen pushing back against the 2018 ruling, arguing that it impeded efforts to address the state's homelessness crisis. Similarly, police, officials, and business owners contest the decision, claiming it hinders efforts to clear homeless encampments. Subsequently, West Coast cities (like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco) have been seeking Supreme Court intervention, claiming the 9th Circuit has limited their ability to address health and safety threats.
Grounding for Grants Pass comes from their argument that the 9th Circuit rulings lack ‘constitutional foundation’. Still, lawyers for homeless individuals argue that the Eighth Amendment prohibits punishing people for involuntary status, such as homelessness.
Ultimately, the case involves the constitutional balance between preventing encampments and protecting the rights of homeless individuals. But this is only a problem if we consider homeless encampments a public nuisance. Where we’re instead recognising the causes for their existence and their proceeding necessity, an entirely new set of aims can be prioritised. Between the lines of legality, this case questions whether cities can punish homeless residents solely for existing without shelter access. Efforts to clear encampments have increased in cities like Los Angeles and New York, but visible reductions in tent numbers are limited.
But where we’ve acknowledged limited space in homeless shelters, alongside increased efforts to clear encampments, we must ask ourselves where the homeless will go under the potential threat of new policy.
& Prison is no place…
The incarceration of the homeless is a great way to ensure that we can remain in bliss, never having to set our eyes on those we pass every day. Seeing the consequences of our failure to engage in community centred practices is of course unpleasant, especially for those who have their hands deepest in the handling of these issues.
But we truly can’t take lightly the concept of criminalisation, and its effects when enforced. The criminalisation of the homeless almost guarantees an increased prison population. Initially, we can see how homeless people experience far more interactions with the CJS, at a rate reportedly 10 times the number of those living in shelters. These frequent interactions with the police and criminal justice system currently advocating for increased efforts to ‘clear encampments’ give way to a kind of homelessness-jail cycle which is almost impossible to escape.
And yet it is no surprise that criminalising homelessness continues to be a top priority for policy makers, given the ways in which the homelessness-jail cycle offers a way to ensure free labour legalised through the prison system. In 2022 ACLU reported that 80% of wages earned by those incarcerated through forced labour are reaped by the government for a number of costs including ‘court costs’, ‘restitution’ and the ‘building and sustainment of prisons’, whilst no other demographic faces this level of exploitation.
Sadly, I’m finding there are those that have been led to believe that homeless people would prefer prison because of the access they might have to a ‘warm bed’, ‘clean clothes’ and regular meals. But here there is a gross misunderstanding of what the realities of life in prison encompasses. The vast overpopulation of prisons in the US further exacerbates problems of violence, un-safety, and limited resources where the country stands at 103.9% prison capacity now. In any case, the options presented to the homeless shouldn’t constitute suffering either way, but we can hardly be surprised at these attitudes given that learning to detach from our humanity is at this point an age-old practice in the global north.
I’m learning that a common feature of narratives designed to uphold alienating subjugation is the removal of personhood as a justification. Here we always see the dehumanisation of the homeless by the way we see people interact with them in their daily lives, figuratively (and literally) spitting on those subconsciously deemed as less than deserving of decency.
- People sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence.
- More than one in three people sleeping rough have been deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless.
CRISIS.ORG.UK
But ironically a lot of people are one missed pay check away from this reality.
In addition to signifying huge markers of social hierarchy bias1, the criminalisation of homelessness also stands to disproportionately affect racially marginalised communities specifically.
Key findings from research entitled ‘Racial Inequalities in Homelessness, by the numbers’ performed by the National Alliance help exemplify this;
- African Americans make up 13 percent of the general population, but more than 40 percent of the homeless population.
- American Indians/Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and people who identify as two or more races make up a disproportionate share of the homeless population.
- Racial and ethnic disparities in homelessness are not improving significantly over time.
As a UK resident, an issue theoretically more prevalent in another country begs the question of my interest here, but once again our practices are seen to bear more similarity to those in the US than we imagine. Mostly this opens up wider conversation about a phenomenon seen in most western countries, where in the UK; despite 300,000 households having been reported either homeless or at risk for homelessness (as of March 2023), the criminalisation of homelessness is still a major issue.
December 2023 saw a petition signed by 10,000 brits in protestation of the Vagrancy Act, a bill which included new powers to move people on who are sleeping rough and criminalise them should they fail to comply, facing a fine of up to £2500. The act remains a threat, having been reformed and re-established as the Criminal Justice Bill, against ‘Nuisance begging and rough sleeping’.
Diversifying our approach
In addition to spreading awareness about cases like Grants Pass v Johnson, and seeking the appropriate forms of counteraction, what too many of us also fail to realise is that there is room for the homeless, (even outside of homeless shelters). There is the potential for vacant commercial buildings to be converted into temporary housing. As outlined by urban.org, a ‘Housing First’ approach could promise to tackle the consequences brought on when we criminalise homelessness. Through these kinds of initiatives, programs can connect people with stable housing without preconditions, allowing them to also ameliorate other aspects of their lives. FUSE Supportive Housing Program serves as a great example of the success to be had here, and in 2014, participants in the program had ‘lower jail, shelter, and crisis health care costs’ than a comparison group.
So we know now there are very real ways in which we can pull others away from the fringes of our society. We have to acknowledge ourselves as being accountable to others in the way that we’re thinking of those disenfranchised at least as much as we’re thinking of ourselves. Let the person lying on the street live in the forefront on your mind in replace of denial,
Let indifference disperse,
Asisa
Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/jan/16/supreme-court-anti-homeless-laws-oregon Guardian Article Grants Pass v. Johnson
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-12/homeless-encampment-clash-draws-review-by-us-supreme-court Bloomberg Article Grants Pass v. Johnson
https://endhomelessness.org/resource/racial-inequalities-homelessness-numbers/ ‘Racial Inequalities in Homelessness, by the Numbers’ NATEH
https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-homelessness/ UK Homelessness stats
https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/latest-news/10-000-people-say-don-t-criminalise-homelessness/#:~:text=Now%20the%20UK%20Government%20is,of%20up%20to%20£2%2C500. Anti-Vagrancy Act Petition
https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers Info on the exploitation of incarcerated workers
“Bias, prejudice, oppression, or discrimination toward a person or group of people based on social class or SES, perpetrated by those who have the privilege and power to do so”. (Brown et al., 2005; Smith, 2005).