{"id":1642,"date":"2014-04-19T05:47:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-19T05:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2014-04-23T05:49:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T05:49:01","slug":"criminalization-is-not-a-solution-to-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/criminalization-is-not-a-solution-to-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminalization Is Not A Solution to Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NOTES FROM NORSE:\u00a0 Even this staid establishment group is reciting the obvious–a lesson Santa Cruz authorities are willfully ignoring.\u00a0 With the Armory Winter Shelter closed, 100 more homeless people have been dumped on the streets facing $157 “sleeping” tickets for doing what they need to do.\u00a0 Unless you were on the waiting list of the Homeless (Lack of ) Services Center [HLOSC], failure to troop to court results in a doubling of penalties and you face credit, DMV, and other potential problems.\u00a0\u00a0 The HLOSC & River St. Mini Shelter are supposed to be sending their waiting lists to the City Attorney to be automatically dismissed.\u00a0 Recent indications are that they’re not only refusing to provide people with documentation they are on the waiting lists, but refusing to so testify to the City Attorney–until forced to do so under repeated pressure.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meanwhile HUFF has been collecting for broadcast homeless accounts of recent abuses in weekly tabling by the pedestrian footbridge near Hiway 1.\u00a0\u00a0 HUFFmembers and non-members alike:\u00a0 Contact HUFF at 831-423-4833<\/a> to help in direct actions, research, and tabling.<\/p>\n
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\nProtect Human Rights, Implement Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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April 17, 2014<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Criminalization is Not a Solution to\u00a0<\/b>Homelessness;\u00a0<\/b>Communities Need to Create Meaningful Alternatives<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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\nUSICH is dedicated to supporting states and communities to implement a Human Rights approach to ending homelessness that connects people to stable housing and eliminates the criminalization of homelessness.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Working with communities and using Searching Out Solutions: Constructive Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness<\/a> as a guide, (and most recently informed by a ride-along with the San Diego Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team),we’ve identified several important strategies communities can implement to ensure that they are providing meaningful alternatives to criminalization.<\/p>\n

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San Diego Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team is often the first line of response to issues of homelessness (Photo by Mercy Baron)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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  1. Consistent, comprehensive, and skilled outreach and engagement<\/b><\/i>. This engagement should include law enforcement, service providers, and other city and county staff in order to engage people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and build trusting relationships, which are the basis for identifying and providing the best and most appropriate housing and services options to each individual and family.<\/li>\n
  2. Immediately-available interim housing opportunities with clear paths to permanent housing<\/b><\/i>. When an individual or family asks for assistance to come inside, we should be able to provide that opportunity as quickly as it is available.<\/li>\n
  3. A systems-orientation across all agencies and programs<\/b><\/i>. Outreach workers and people seeking help should not have to navigate a confusing and complicated array of program criteria, eligibility requirements, and screening processes to figure out what housing opportunities are available. We need systems that respond to requests for help with consistent, solutions-focused actions, regardless of where that request is made.<\/li>\n
  4. Coordinate approaches for assessing needs and prioritizing access to housing and resources<\/b><\/i>. People who are most vulnerable and most in need of intensive housing and services interventions (such as permanent supportive housing) should get the quickest possible access to those interventions. They should not be left waiting in line behind people who could be better served by less intensive and expensive housing opportunities.<\/li>\n
  5. Focus on housing first strategies and practices<\/b><\/i>. Removing unnecessary obstacles, requirements, and expectations to housing and emphasizing strategies that can help people to access an appropriate and stable housing opportunity as quickly as possible is critical. The effectiveness of housing first strategies has been proven again and again. People with the lived experience of homelessness know that housing is the answer to their challenges.<\/li>\n
  6. Sustaining the leadership and will it takes to create lasting solutions<\/b><\/i>. Above all else, we’ve learned that person-centered community engagement must be a centerpiece in any effort. Whether engaged as people who have experienced homelessness, outreach workers, law enforcement, volunteers, funders, service providers, business leaders, or members of a faith group, when the larger community is informed and working together and has clear leadership people get connected to safe, stable housing and end their homelessness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    Read About Our Ride Along with the San Diego Police Department Homelessness Outreach Team<\/a><\/div>\n
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    Effective Community-Based Solutions to\u00a0<\/b>Encampments<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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    Across the country, many communities are wrestling with how to create solutions for people experiencing homelessness in encampments.<\/p>\n

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    Constructive Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Unfortunately, the first response to encampments often considered by communities and elected officials are ordinances that criminalize certain behaviors, such as panhandling, sitting and\/or lying on public sidewalks, and camping. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Criminalization measures are not real solutions.<\/b> Real solutions result from strategies and responses that help people living in encampments achieve permanent housing.<\/p>\n

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    Encampments are not a solution to homelessness. <\/b>Encampments do not provide permanent housing outcomes, nor do encampments best serve those who are experiencing homelessness. Encampments only offer a temporary and reactive response to homelessness.<\/p>\n

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    However, <\/span>prematurely dispersing people from encampments is not an effective approach<\/b> to addressing the issue of encampments. Dispersing people from encampments is costly, contributes to distrust and conflict, and is a short-term intervention at best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Many people who live in encampments have nowhere else to go and may be experiencing chronic homelessness and\/or be extremely vulnerable due to disability or illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Providing people with access to permanent housing is the solution to encampments<\/b>, as described in USICH’s publication <\/span>Searching out Solutions: Constructive Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    Ending homelessness is about protecting and furthering Human Rights. Balancing health, safety, and community impact concerns created by encampments of people experiencing homelessness can be challenging, but there are solutions.<\/div>\n
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    Read More About Solutions to Encampments Here<\/a><\/div>\n
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    Reentry Resources You Can Use<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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    USICH is proud to serve as a member of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council<\/a>.\u00a0Stable housing with appropriate supportive services is a key factor<\/a> in preventing or ending homelessness and reducing recidivism for people coming out of incarceration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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    USICH participates in a\u00a0recent Reentry Council Meeting (Photo by DOJ)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    The Reentry Council recently released a set of “<\/span>MythBuster<\/a>” fact sheets that cover a range of important topics. These fact sheets are designed to clarify existing Federal policies that affect formerly incarcerated individuals and their families in areas such as public housing, employment, parental rights, Medicaid suspension\/termination, voting rights, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    The Reentry MythBusters are particularly useful for:<\/p>\n