{"id":1922,"date":"2015-04-10T04:21:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T04:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2015-04-10T04:21:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T04:21:43","slug":"bigoted-band-blasts-rights-for-the-poor-in-sacramento-update-on-right-to-rest-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/bigoted-band-blasts-rights-for-the-poor-in-sacramento-update-on-right-to-rest-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigoted Band Blasts Rights for the Poor in Sacramento & Update on Right to Rest Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California Cities Band Together To Preserve Their Right To Treat Homeless People As Criminals<\/a><\/h1>\n

by Alan Pyke<\/a>\"\"<\/a> Posted on April 7, 2015 at 3:43 pm\u00a0Updated: April 8,<\/p>\n

FOLLOW AND POST MORE COMMENTS AT:
\nhttp:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/economy\/2015\/04\/07\/3644019\/homeless-california-league-of-extraordinarily-strained-logic\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A group of California towns is fighting for their right to criminalize homelessness as state lawmakers weigh new protections for the destitute on Tuesday<\/span><\/span>.
\nThe League of California Cities (LCC) is opposing a new statewide \u201cRight to Rest\u201d bill protecting homeless people\u2019s right to sleep and eat in public. The bill would pre-empt local ordinances that impose fines and jail terms for homeless people over their use of public spaces for non-criminal activity. Such local efforts<\/a> to make homelessness illegal<\/a> have cropped up all around the country<\/a> in recent years, even as homelessness advocates have piled up evidence that it is far cheaper to provide permanent housing to the homeless than it is to lock them up.
\nThe \u201cRight to Rest\u201d law, which gets its first hearing before a Senate committee on Tuesday<\/span><\/span> afternoon, is inspired by a rapid uptick in law enforcement targeting of the unsheltered and a new understanding of how many California towns have laws that criminalize homeless people\u2019s day-to-day activities. Law students from Berkeley found more than 500<\/a> separate anti-homeless laws in a review of just 58 cities\u2019 codes, and concluded that California cities are twice as likely as other American towns to ban homeless people from sleeping in their cars.<\/p>\n

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Their report found that arrests for vagrancy offenses have surged as arrests for disorderly conduct slipped, \u201csuggesting that homeless people are being punished for their status, not their behavior.\u201d That attitude was on full display in San Rafael, CA, earlier this year when Mayor Gary Phillips closed a city park favored by the homeless because \u201cI want to break the cycle so this is not a place for them to hang out<\/a>.\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The bill<\/a> up for a hearing Tuesday<\/span><\/span> is broadly written, but intended<\/a> to \u201cend the criminalization of the non-criminal activities of life exercised by homeless people\u201d in public spaces. Its author notes federal findings<\/a> that laws like the ones LCC is working to defend are ineffective at protecting the public interest and even exacerbate homelessness by adding criminal records and institutionalization to an already long list of challenges. The LCC\u2019s legislative letter<\/a> against the bill argues that it would undermine the basic definition of property rights that \u201care the foundation of our social order,\u201d and grant special rights to anyone defined as homeless. The group has asked member towns to send letters of opposition<\/a> to the senator sponsoring the bill.
\n\u201cRight to Rest\u201d is just one piece of homelessness legislation facing the state this session, and looking at it in connection with the others makes the LCC\u2019s position harder to understand. Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D) has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the state\u2019s financing system for affordable housing<\/a> that would inject hundreds of millions of dollars into construction and upkeep of buildings that could keep the working poor off the streets.
\nThe LCC supports those Atkins bills, and claims that its opposition to \u201cRight to Rest\u201d is consistent with that affordable housing stance. LCC spokeswoman Eva Spiegel told ThinkProgress that the group supports Atkins\u2019 ideas because they correspond with a national consensus<\/a> \u201cthat the key to helping the homeless get back on their feet is through a combination of housing and supportive services.\u201d
\nBut the criminalization law \u201ccreates another excuse for not making the commitment to house and serve the homeless,\u201d Spiegel said. Spiegel declined to clarify exactly how decriminalizing homelessness would distract from the holistic efforts that LCC supports.
\nIt isn\u2019t an obvious connection. Criminalizing homeless people\u2019s sleeping habits, minimal property holdings, and access to fresh food doesn\u2019t do anything to facilitate their getting into permanent supportive housing. Cities that have committed to the criminalization path have sometimes found themselves on the wrong end of the courts, as in the case of Fort Lauderdale, FL<\/a> and Dallas, TX<\/a>.
\nIf the goal is to devote more resources to housing and counseling solutions that are proven to be effective, criminalizing people\u2019s behavior when they don\u2019t have access to a house may actively get in the way. One study has found that it costs over $30,000 per year<\/a> in law enforcement and health care expenses to leave a homeless person on the street and criminalize her behavior, but barely $10,000 a year<\/a> to put him into a permanent housing unit.<\/p>\n

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California cities fight homeless rights bill<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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League of California Cities opposition to Right to Rest Act latest in long history of classist edicts, rights groups say<\/h2>\n
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April 7, 20155:00AM ET<\/div>\n
by Renee Lewis<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An influential league of California cities is opposing a bill that would allow people to rest in public areas \u2014 a position that homeless activists argue is consistent with the group’s history of supporting abuses against marginalized groups.
\nThe Right to Rest bill, which moves to a state Senate hearing on April 7, would allow homeless individuals to sit, stand, eat or rest without it being a criminal offense.
\nMunicipal laws in California targeting these behaviors have skyrocketed in past years, a\u00a0recent report<\/a>\u00a0showed, with researchers identifying over 500 restrictions in California municipalities \u2014 nearly nine laws per city, on average.
\nThe League of California Cities, an association of California city officials that work to influence policy decisions,\u00a0drafted a petition<\/a>\u00a0last week against the bill, arguing that it doesn\u2019t provide a solution to homelessness and would “undermine the ability of all others to access clean and non-threatening public spaces.”
\nFor rights advocates, that’s tantamount to calling the homeless dirty and threatening.
\nThe League \u201chides or puts a veil over the race and class issues that are really behind this \u2026 but it always seeps through,\u201d said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP).
\n\u201cBottom line,\u201d Boden said, the League is saying, \u201c\u2018We don\u2019t want to see these people, and we want to preserve our authority to pass and enforce these laws, so if too many come around to make us uncomfortable, we can use these laws to get rid of them.\u2019\u201d
\nThe homeless are not the first marginalized group targeted by the League in its over 100-year history, according to documents provided by the Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP), an organization that works on the behalf of low-income Californians.
\nPast League targets for the removal from public space or even entire municipalities include Chinese, Japanese and African Americans, as well as \u201cany person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object,\u201d according to the documents.
\nTo counteract the League of California Cities\u2019 opposition to the bill, WRAP, WCLP and other social justice groups sent a letter to Jim Beall, chairman of the California Transportation and Housing Committee, who will oversee this week’s hearing on the bill. In it, the advocacy groups placed the group\u2019s resistance to the Right to Rest bill into a long history of antipathy toward the downtrodden.
\n\u201cThe League of California Cities has an unfortunate history of being on the wrong side of civil and human rights history in some critical times in our past and their opposition to SB 608 continues this historical pattern,\u201d the letter said.
\nThe League has supported sundown towns, Jim Crow laws, Chinese exclusion and Japanese internment, the letter added.
\nOpposition to the bill<\/a>\u00a0by the League \u201cfalls on the same kinds of scare tactics used throughout the last century to ban certain \u2018undesirables\u2019 who were deemed to be an \u2018economic blight\u2019 or danger on the street,\u201d the letter said.
\nThe League rejected allegations that its opposition to the bill was based on an effort to discriminate against a certain group of people. Its communications director, Eva Spiegel, emailed Al Jazeera\u00a0that the League has a \u201clongstanding commitment to human rights and inclusivity,\u201d that is reflected in its racially and politically diverse board.
\n\u201cWe reject any effort to falsely characterize the league’s opposition to SB 608 as reflective of an organizational philosophy to discriminate against certain groups,\u201d Spiegel said. \u201cThis is completely inaccurate and fails to appropriately reflect the comments in our letter.\u201d
\nSpiegel said the League opposes the bill because it \u201cdoes nothing to help the homeless get off the streets\u201d and that the solution is to provide affordable housing. She cited California’s 2011 removal of over $1 billion per year in affordable housing. She said that has \u201chad a devastating and well-documented effect of the ability of cities, non-profits, and others to build this much needed housing.\u201d
\nHomeless advocates agree that cuts to funding for affordable housing are largely to blame for the modern crisis of homelessness, but they disagree that the bill would accomplish \u201cnothing\u201d in getting people of the streets.
\nEven if there was affordable housing available, having a criminal record makes it more difficult for homeless individuals to find employment and housing. And aggressive policing pushes the homeless out of city centers, farther from the services intended to help them.
\nAdvocates told Al Jazeera that the League\u2019s position on the bill is based on a desire to remove the homeless from public space in the interest of promoting business.
\nThe League\u2019s petition said that a law asserting the rights of people to rest and carry out life-sustaining behaviors in public areas without criminalization would \u201ccreate social disorder,\u201d adding that the bill \u201ccreates a special set of exemptions and privileges for one group of people.\u201d
\nAdvocates said the bill asserts the rights of every Californian to rest, sleep, share food and pray in public.
\nBoden said that those who argue the bills would create a special exemption for the homeless overlook the discriminatory manner in which those laws are policed.
\n\u201cThis bill says \u2026 if you\u2019re forced to sleep outside that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re committing a crime \u2014 it means we\u2019re having a housing crisis,\u201d Boden added.
\nAs part of the\u00a0movement for homeless rights<\/a>\u00a0that has brought together over 170 social justice groups,\u00a0similar bills aimed at protecting the right to sit, stand, eat or rest in public have been introduced in state legislatures in Colorado, Oregon and Hawaii.
\nAll of the bills are facing similar opposition by municipalities and business district improvement groups, Boden said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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California eyes Right to Rest Act to stem criminalization of homeless<\/h4>\n

State becomes the fourth to consider legislation enshrining right to basic acts of survival in public places<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Homeless America: \u2018Everyone should be able to pee for free with dignity\u2019<\/h4>\n

UN says 2.5 billion lack toilets globally, and activists say many homeless in the US struggle to find restrooms<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Calif. laws increasingly target homeless, sparking calls for Right to Rest<\/h4>\n

Study finds 77 percent jump in arrests for vagrancy offenses since 2000; campaigners face deadline to find bill sponsor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Critics slam Indianapolis mayor for veto of Homeless Bill of Rights<\/h4>\n

The proposal would do \u2018nothing,\u2019 said the mayor, but others say the homeless need protection from police discrimination<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Opinion: The growing criminalization of homelessness<\/h4>\n

How developers and politicians create urban \u2018social hygiene\u2019 campaigns<\/p>\n

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UPDATE ON RIGHT TO REST LAW<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 
\nDate: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 13:18:10 -0700
\nSubject: Right To Rest Hearing update
\nFrom: pboden@wraphome.org
\nTo: pboden@wraphome.org<\/p>\n

Hey All<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Great turnout, powerful speaking truth to power and 75 or so of some of the best people you’ll ever want to meet!!!<\/div>\n
While our bill did not pass out of committee it is definitely not dead.. No vote was taken, so SB 608 will either move by the end of this month or be put on hold till next years session.<\/div>\n
Campaign organizers are working with Sen Liu’s office on next steps and we will report back with more clarity as soon as we have all the information we need<\/div>\n
In the meantime you can check out the hearing through the links below:\u00a0Starts at about 13 minutes in and ends at 1:46<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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For those who weren\u2019t there and\/or those who would like to re-live our awesome testimony yesterday, here is the link to the streaming archive:<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/calchannel.granicus.com\/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=2709<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
You can also download audio here:<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.calchannel.com\/recent-archive\/<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Peace<\/div>\n
paul<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  California Cities Band Together To Preserve Their Right To Treat Homeless People As Criminals by Alan Pyke Posted on April 7, 2015 at 3:43 pm\u00a0Updated: April 8, FOLLOW AND POST MORE COMMENTS AT: http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/economy\/2015\/04\/07\/3644019\/homeless-california-league-of-extraordinarily-strained-logic\/ A group of California towns … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[4,106],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1923,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions\/1923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}