law makers can direct funds to solve human needs, the need of youth for housing, or to hire more police and maintain the appearance of a good social order. Which one would you vote to spend your tax dollars: to help youth fit in? or to hunt them off the streets, and show a veneer of civilization, a surface solution that only relocates troubled youth from street to jail?
On April 22, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v Johnson which deals with the criminalization of homelessness. In this opinion piece published today in The Hill, Margot Kushel MD and I argue that housing, not criminalization, is the answer to homelessness.
https://lnkd.in/dFGcj2Yx
Comfortable leaders and comfortable people look the other way and keep on walking when they see the youth in a ditch, the flower of their life lost, opportunity fading as critical growth stages of education and starter jobs, housing are vanishing.
What are youth? Comfortable people define it as those 18 and under. Such narrow definitions help them pacify their consciences and give some traction to the idea that they are good, helping the needy. The others? Over 18 must mean they are adult losers! Let them be accountable for their own poor choices ! Right?
This is the simple view. The problem is far deeper and uglier than this.
Affordable housing lets the starter gain some traction in life....work, save, build a future. If 100% pay cheque goes for rent, what about food? Vehicle? Insurance? Gas? dental work? Clothing? Work tools? Hope????
Better to hire police and keep these young lives out of sight lest anyone notice the hard hearted, self seeking ways of those with power to make change and help these dislocated forgotten young fellow citizens, who could desperately use help.
I share the opinions of this article, and will add how overtime the cost of housing has outpaced wages, year after year nationwide. There is no county in the US where the local minimum wage earner can afford housing on that income. The problems are structural, rooted in stale, I would argue haremful, economic and land use models. We know how to fix it, the question is do we have the collective will.
On April 22, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v Johnson which deals with the criminalization of homelessness. In this opinion piece published today in The Hill, Margot Kushel MD and I argue that housing, not criminalization, is the answer to homelessness.
https://lnkd.in/dFGcj2Yx
So often, I see communities want to stop "pan-handling", people spending excess time in libraries, "loitering" in public spaces, tent cities, use of public parks without looking at root causes. Gregg Colburn and his colleagues are providing Real News and Real Data on housing affordability, lack of supply of housing, and ways to create safe shelter for all people. Criminalizing of people who are experiencing homelessness avoids our society - you and me- making a commitment to the common good. It is not just "housing first"; it is to see the "I" in front of me/you as having inherent dignity. That as a result, there have been those fighting for a right to housing; That no ideology can take away that dignity unless it is through lack of societal will. Unless we see the "I" in front as a criminal. How sad, we don't think of how we would want to be treated if we were to experience homelessness.
On April 22, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v Johnson which deals with the criminalization of homelessness. In this opinion piece published today in The Hill, Margot Kushel MD and I argue that housing, not criminalization, is the answer to homelessness.
https://lnkd.in/dFGcj2Yx
Ill-founded, expensive and inhumane! We join the National Homelessness Law Center and National Alliance to End Homelessness in condemning SCOTUS’ decision on the criminalization of homelessness. Being poor or mentally ill or unable to afford the soaring cost of housing does not make someone a criminal. Filling jails with people who can be helped through proven Housing First programs that cost less than prison and don’t infringe on citizens’ constitutional rights are a much better solution with great outcomes. Take the shackles off, and let’s invest in helping people regain their lives. https://lnkd.in/e_ve5sUy
Criminalizing homelessness is not a solution to the housing crisis, nor does it build public safety.
A study of nearly 70,000 cases found that prosecuting people for low-level crimes like public sleeping makes cities more dangerous and leads to more violent crime.
But this month, the Supreme Court could decide if local governments can criminalize sleeping in public spaces. Lower courts have already ruled that doing so is illegal and the Supreme Court should reiterate that fact. https://lnkd.in/e9M2sWMq
New laws are penalizing people for simply trying to survive on the streets. Instead of addressing the root causes of homelessness, cities are doubling down on criminalization. Learn more about this disturbing trend:
https://lnkd.in/eMc4uCdj
Ill-founded, expensive and inhumane! We join the National Homelessness Law Center and National Alliance to End Homelessness in condemning SCOTUS’ decision on the criminalization of homelessness. Being poor or mentally ill or unable to afford the soaring cost of housing does not make someone a criminal. Filling jails with people who can be helped through proven Housing First programs that cost less than prison and don’t infringe on citizens’ constitutional rights are a much better solution with great outcomes. Take the shackles off, and let’s invest in helping people regain their lives. https://lnkd.in/eFy7GFuu
Ill-founded, expensive and inhumane! We join the National Homelessness Law Center and National Alliance to End Homelessness in condemning SCOTUS’ decision on the criminalization of homelessness. Being poor or mentally ill or unable to afford the soaring cost of housing does not make someone a criminal. Filling jails with people who can be helped through proven Housing First programs that cost less than prison and don’t infringe on citizens’ constitutional rights are a much better solution with great outcomes. Take the shackles off, and let’s invest in helping people regain their lives. https://lnkd.in/eFy7GFuu
Disappointed is the nicer way of putting it. Today, the highest court in the U.S., the Supreme Court just ruled to make it easier to jail or fine unhoused people for sleeping outside, even when adequate shelter or housing isn’t available.
This will only make homelessness worse.
Housing - not tickets, jail, or fines - ends homelessness.
It's also not the society I want to live in. Punishing people who have nowhere else to go - is not effective policy.
Communities need to invest in housing and services - and I hope they'll take the advice of experts to lean in on effective solutions not punishing ones.
https://lnkd.in/e2UBWfcR
They say any person with a grievance can find remedy in the law. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Illinois criminal trespass to real property
720 ILCS 5/21-3) (from Ch. 38, par. 21-3) (d) A person shall be exempt from prosecution under this Section if he or she beautifies unoccupied and abandoned residential and industrial properties located within any municipality. For the purpose of this subsection, "unoccupied and abandoned residential and industrial property" means any real estate (1) in which the taxes have not been paid for a period of at least 2 years; and (2) which has been left unoccupied and abandoned for a period of at least one year; and "beautifies" means to landscape, clean up litter, or to repair dilapidated conditions on or to board up windows and doors.
prosecution /prŏs″ĭ-kyoo͞′shən/ noun
1. The act of prosecuting.
2. The institution and conduct of a legal proceeding
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Illinois Attorney Act
(705 ILCS 205/11) (from Ch. 13, par. 11)
Sec. 11. Plaintiffs shall have the liberty of prosecuting, and defendants of defending in their proper persons.
**If you own vacant and neglected property and don’t act to repair and restore it to a habitable condition, eminent domain should apply because it is the best interest of the collective that your private property be taken for public use.
The Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited ruling in #JohnsonVGrantsPass, the most significant legal challenge to the rights of homeless people in decades. “We knew from Day 1 that the Supreme Court case wouldn’t end homelessness,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, the communications director for the Law Center. “Now, we must use this moment in time to ensure that Congress and the White House do their job by funding the housing needed to ensure that nobody experiences homelessness in the richest country in the world.”
Read more: https://lnkd.in/gNT2G-QV
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7moComfortable leaders and comfortable people look the other way and keep on walking when they see the youth in a ditch, the flower of their life lost, opportunity fading as critical growth stages of education and starter jobs, housing are vanishing. What are youth? Comfortable people define it as those 18 and under. Such narrow definitions help them pacify their consciences and give some traction to the idea that they are good, helping the needy. The others? Over 18 must mean they are adult losers! Let them be accountable for their own poor choices ! Right? This is the simple view. The problem is far deeper and uglier than this. Affordable housing lets the starter gain some traction in life....work, save, build a future. If 100% pay cheque goes for rent, what about food? Vehicle? Insurance? Gas? dental work? Clothing? Work tools? Hope???? Better to hire police and keep these young lives out of sight lest anyone notice the hard hearted, self seeking ways of those with power to make change and help these dislocated forgotten young fellow citizens, who could desperately use help.