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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Administration Set To Take Away Money From Cities That Criminalize Homelessness
Bravo!!
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/obama-administration-set-to-take-away-money-from-cities-that-criminalize-homelessness/
Obama Administration Set To Take Away Money From Cities That Criminalize Homelessness
by James DeVinnie September 24, 2015
In an important step for the rights of the homeless, the Obama administration has announced that federal funding to combat homelessness will be tied to municipalities cracking down on criminalization of the homeless. The move comes after the administration argued last month in federal court that local ordinances criminalizing homelessness an pressing issue given the recent uptick in homelessness in many cities are a violation of the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The change in policy comes at a time when inhumane laws criminalizing the homeless have proliferated at an astounding rate. A recent report by UC Berkeley, for example, identified more than 500 such laws on the books in only 58 cities in California, where the homeless population has reached epidemic proportions and efforts to address it have generally ranged from the misguided to the totally inhumane. Such laws, typically shrouded in language identifying them as quality-of-life, or without any irony regarding the similarity to Reconstruction-era Black Codes anti-vagrancy laws, make it illegal to do things like sit down on a sidewalk, panhandle, or sleep in public places. Given the shameful inadequacy of most cities shelter programs and their often-inhumane conditions, these new laws have left the homeless, many of whom are working, with very few options to live a law-abiding existence.
The administrations move applies specifically to almost $2 billion of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants that are provided to localities annually to combat homelessness in public-private partnerships. Under the Feds new rules, in order to qualify for the grants cities must describe the efforts they are making to combat the criminalization of the homeless through working with law enforcement and promoting new, more humane ordinances. Homeless advocates hope the policy will have a similar effect to an earlier Obama administration initiative, Race to the Top, that tied the provision of federal education funding to local districts raising their standards. Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, praised the move, saying: We welcome the federal governments direction of tax limited dollars to the places that will most effectively use that money to address homelessness.
Besides the obvious human rights benefit of directing sparse homelessness funding to beneficial rather than combative initiatives, the new policy will save money for both taxpayers and municipalities given that criminalization initiatives have been found to be counterproductive and leaving the homeless on the streets as criminalization without funding for support ensures costs more than three times as much as providing basic housing and services to the homeless population. The Obama administration deserves to be commended for its efforts to support the homeless, who often seem to exist in a marginalized and disadvantaged world outside the aegis of the rights and freedoms that most of us take for granted.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Well if true that should change their tune. I am stunned Berkeley being so progressive would be so hard on the homeless. Can you imagine if the president seriously stopped all federal funding to states that have cities that are not respectful to the homeless. Holy cow! You would see respect and help happen yesterday. The reason I said states is because I don't think the federal money gives money directly to cities.
elleng
(130,740 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)if we are going to be the America we once thought we were. A land of the free may not be as tidy and "respectable" looking as pubs like, but that's just too bad.
mmonk
(52,589 posts)Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)DrBulldog
(841 posts). . . the United States now has so much institutionalized hate within it, so much so that it gets harder each day to look at ourselves in the mirror and have any respect for what we see.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)cally
(21,591 posts)Another example of why we have to elect another Democratic President next time.
w0nderer
(1,937 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)mcar
(42,278 posts)malaise
(268,712 posts)GObama!
yuiyoshida
(41,818 posts)think
(11,641 posts)Being homeless is not a crime. It's the sad reality of an uncaring and unjust society...
historylovr
(1,557 posts)CrispyQ
(36,424 posts)Take away what they love the most - money.
valerief
(53,235 posts)mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)and K & R again and again.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)cindyperry2010
(846 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,703 posts)people.
A Little Weird
(1,754 posts)brer cat
(24,524 posts)Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)Reagan closed the mental hospitals, Bush took their homes and money, plus put the vets in a hell hole, ruined some of their lives with PTSD and broke up families...good for Obama. He's giving them back some of what was taken from them.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Yes Reagan did bad things but sheesh they could have been corrected by now. Everyone acts like he was the strongest president ever. Changes could have happened well after he left. 35 years is a long time to still have Reagan policies.
rpannier
(24,328 posts)Sadly, I agree.
Sadly in that I wish people in power had done something about it, but throwing people in jail or the streets seemed to be the cheapest answers
AllyCat
(16,152 posts)Thanks to our "progressive " mayor who throws away their few possessions and harasses people trying to feed them.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)[URL=http://www.sherv.net/][IMG][/IMG][/URL]
And as for the DU talking point that Hillary would be more of the same... well we should be so lucky as to have a POSUCS 2.0.
Just sayin, things certainly look different outside of the DU bubble.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)areas to clear them out and destroy everything these people own. That is a total disgrace. It only makes the problem bigger.
Everything I own is in my small bedroom. I cannot begin to know what it would be like to be living in a makeshift tent city and lose everything.
This should have been done years ago.
niyad
(113,074 posts)law. this city provides few resources for the homeless, frequently goes after their camps, etc., perhaps I should mention this to the reichwing mayor.
NealK
(1,851 posts)What is done to homeless people in some cities is horrible. Talk about being heartless.