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US homeless pin hopes on 'Bill of Rights' to end criminalization in 2015 (in 3 very cool states)
US homeless pin hopes on 'Bill of Rights' to end criminalization in 2015
12/31/14
...On any given night in the U.S., there are over 600,000 people facing life without security, a home, or a place to keep their belongings, according to the State of Homelessness in America 2014, a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Over 200,000 of those are children — an all-time high for the U.S. — and families make up about a third of the total homeless population.
At the same time, the number of laws targeting the homeless by making it illegal to sleep, eat or sit in public places has been on the rise in cities across the U.S. At least 21 cities, for example, now have laws against exchanging food in public, making it illegal to give food to the homeless. In one case, a 91-year-old pastor and World War II veteran, Arthur Abbott, was arrested on multiple occasions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for giving out food to the homeless after the city made that act of charity illegal.
Advocates for the homeless argue that these laws are the equivalent of criminalizing poverty, as the homeless are simply doing what all human beings need to do to survive, but they lack the private space to do them.
...Boden's organization is among several working to draft a Homeless Bill of Rights, which may be considered by state legislatures in California, Oregon and Colorado in January. If made into law, the Bill of Rights would help end the criminalization of homelessness.
The proposed legislation is based on hundreds of interviews with homeless individuals and families, who identified what they feel are the most important basic rights they are often criminalized for. Those include the right to move freely and sleep in public spaces, the right to sleep in a parked vehicle, the right to eat and exchange food in public, and the right to have 24-hour access to hygiene facilities....
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/31/us-homeless-pin-hopesonbillofrightstoendcriminalizationin2015.html
12/31/14
...On any given night in the U.S., there are over 600,000 people facing life without security, a home, or a place to keep their belongings, according to the State of Homelessness in America 2014, a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Over 200,000 of those are children — an all-time high for the U.S. — and families make up about a third of the total homeless population.
At the same time, the number of laws targeting the homeless by making it illegal to sleep, eat or sit in public places has been on the rise in cities across the U.S. At least 21 cities, for example, now have laws against exchanging food in public, making it illegal to give food to the homeless. In one case, a 91-year-old pastor and World War II veteran, Arthur Abbott, was arrested on multiple occasions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for giving out food to the homeless after the city made that act of charity illegal.
Advocates for the homeless argue that these laws are the equivalent of criminalizing poverty, as the homeless are simply doing what all human beings need to do to survive, but they lack the private space to do them.
...Boden's organization is among several working to draft a Homeless Bill of Rights, which may be considered by state legislatures in California, Oregon and Colorado in January. If made into law, the Bill of Rights would help end the criminalization of homelessness.
The proposed legislation is based on hundreds of interviews with homeless individuals and families, who identified what they feel are the most important basic rights they are often criminalized for. Those include the right to move freely and sleep in public spaces, the right to sleep in a parked vehicle, the right to eat and exchange food in public, and the right to have 24-hour access to hygiene facilities....
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/31/us-homeless-pin-hopesonbillofrightstoendcriminalizationin2015.html
3 replies
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