Brilliant Corners’ Post

Raiding homeless encampments without ensuring residents have housing is cruel, costly, and only leads to more encampments being created elsewhere. Recent guidelines issued by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) dismisses this crucial fact by including two strategies that cause harm to people experiencing homelessness: encampment closures without requiring that housing be available to all residents, and the use of police in an encampment response. Shame on communities who use guidance like this to justify forcefully and violently removing people from their living situations, doing nothing to solve homelessness. The USICH guidance concerningly enables cities to redirect resources away from proven solutions to homelessness and toward policies that make homelessness worse. The solution to homelessness must include the removal of all police from homelessness response. Read the full statement from the Law Center and our partners at the National Coalition for Housing Justice: https://loom.ly/4ePekjE

On April 22, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v Johnson---to decide whether local governments can arrest people for sleeping outside--despite there not being other options for where to sleep. In this op ed in The Hill, Gregg Colburn and I argue that criminalization of homelessness is (in addition to being cruel), counterproductive. And its adherents present a false dichotomy. We show that there are other choices--namely--housing. And we show it can be done, if appropriately scaled. Did you know that -- with collaboration and funds from the Federal Government--homelessness among veterans have decreased by half, by using Housing First principles? Because Housing First is a bipartisan, evidence based strategy to end homelessness. Criminalizing extreme poverty is traumatizing and counterproductive. Housing ends homelessness. https://lnkd.in/ggVdzmxm UCSF Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative The OpEd Project #PublicVoices

"In Miami, which was under a federal ruling for more than two decades prohibiting the use of jail cells and fines as a response to homelessness, the county funded housing and services. It reduced homelessness by 90 percent. Milwaukee County implemented a housing-first program nearly a decade ago, which resulted in a 92 percent decrease in its homeless population. And Houston, the fourth-most populous city in the nation, provided more than 25,000 homeless people with apartments and houses between 2011 and 2022, reducing homelessness by 64 percent. We cannot simply continue to turn to the justice system to solve social services problems. Doing so is not only relying on the wrong tool for the job, but it violates one of our most fundamental rights as Americans. The solution to homelessness is safe, decent, and affordable housing for everybody and we must ensure that all our neighbors have the housing they need to thrive." Read more: https://lnkd.in/gVymXV7F

Last week, three major Supreme Court rulings were made that will DEFINITELY impact you: 🏘 Through its Grant's Pass decision, justices said that anyone can be punished for sleeping outside. Regardless of if shelters are full or if housing is too expensive in your neighborhood. Or worse, if they just want to kick you out of a public place for existing. 🤑 In the Snyder decision, justices deemed that bribes were not against the law. Political corruption will be harder to penalize. Or worse, industry interests and those with money can now reward politicians for policy that favors them. 🏛 With the Chevron decision, the Court removed the power that federal agencies have over their own regulations. This means important cross-cutting issues like public health, the environment, and workplace safety should receive outside judgement. Or worse, private interests will continue to dominate what should be public decisions. These decisions are appalling, anti-people and anti-common sense. They will result in worse health and more homelessness. They will make Climate Change worse. They will make any of the work that you're doing in the broad social good space, harder. FwdSlash is going to keep fighting for solutions that are grounded in compassion for everyone. Personally, now that these rulings are made, I think we should start by *bribing some politicians* to set rent limits, implement eviction moratoria, and increase access to behavioral health and primary care services. Regardless, we'll work towards addressing the needs of the historically oppressed, displaced or marginalized, not making their lives harder. Read more about our commitment in our latest blog post.

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take up the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson to determine whether if, under our Constitution, a local government can make it a crime to involuntarily live outside and unsheltered, when adequate shelter is not available. Let's breakdown what's next: ⚖ Timeline: National and local advocates will file amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs over the next few months, and a hearing will be held in late April with oral arguments from both sides. The Supreme Court will then make its decision, probably in June or July (although it could be sooner). ⚖ Impacts: In this case, the Supreme Court has the ability, by ruling in favor of the unsheltered people who brought the case, to affirm that everyone in the community is valued, and that the legitimate role of local government is to make room for everyone, in decent conditions, not pick out certain people to lock up or drive out. On the other hand, if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the City of Grants Pass, the Court could make the problem of homelessness much worse. ⚖ What Criminalization Won’t Do: What criminalization won’t do is end unsheltered homelessness. Until humane shelter, housing, and services are made available, people will still sleep outside. ⚖ What the Alliance Will Be Doing: The Alliance will be filing a “friend of the court” brief to help the Supreme Court understand the realities of homelessness and workable, cost-effective solutions. We’ll be using attention created by the case to educate public about the same things. And we’ll be preparing so that however the Court rules, we can help and encourage communities to minimize bad practices and maximize good – so that people experiencing homelessness can attain the housing they deserve. Read more from the National Alliance to End Homelessness: #endhomelessness #scotus https://lnkd.in/ed4jTX7e

Helping those who have fallen between the cracks: is this not the high road? Beefing the police force to explicitly clamp down on a generation segment that is "lost" amounts to a step that is criminalization of the homeless? A short term knee jerk response by politicians to pacify the comfortable voter, yet long term, the article below advocates it is an expensive outcome. By the way, all those new police on staff draw very large pay, are union entitled, have large public service pensions. Overstaffing police could create a long term cost/tax burden problem (politician and taxpayer accountabilities become inflexible costs) even as they "solve" the short term problem by keeping the homeless on a leash. Life is bigger than that? We should have compassion on those who have lost their way, in my view, as a priority above excessive "law and order", and aim better for a balance that takes the wasted social potential of the homeless and gives them a second chance.

Atlanta Civic Circle shared earlier this week our perspective on today’s SCOTUS decision in the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. Our team at Partners for Home has been at the forefront of addressing homelessness in Atlanta. We cannot use this ruling as an excuse to shift the burden of this human problem onto law enforcement. Criminalization is not effective in reducing homelessness, rather it prolongs, and complicates the evidenced-based process of rehousing people and further traumatizes them. Fortunately, our community and Mayor are committed to creating a crisis response system that is resourced to develop housing solutions and to rehouse people who are homeless at the pace and scale we need to solve this critical issue. Homelessness is not a crime and we must continue to invest in housing solutions with the right complement of supportive services that end, rather than manage, a person’s homelessness. Discover how Partners for Home and our community are making strides toward ending homelessness. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/etxfTt_v #Homelessness #Atlanta #SCOTUS #CommunitySupport #PartnersForHome #CivicEngagement

"This worsening tragedy is a societal failure that disturbs the conscience, particularly in light of the profound consequences that homelessness unleashes.... Stabilizing housing for older adults [through prevention efforts] is the best way to spare them the pain, suffering, humiliation, and indignity of becoming homeless." Please take a moment to read this important Marin County Grant Jury report on the need for the County of Marin to develop a homelessness prevention strategy for older adults in our community. "The 2023-2024 Marin County Grand Jury (Grand Jury) reviewed the County’s current homelessness programs and services and concluded that little or no attention is being paid to prevention. There are few services for older adults on the precipice of losing their housing. Despite several previous Grand Jury reports regarding the growing need to prioritize the housing needs of older adults, there remains a lack of urgency in establishing a systemic approach that would ensure a long-term commitment to implementing and maintaining practical solutions that prevent older adults from falling into homelessness. This report contains recommendations that the Board should implement immediately to prevent this crisis from worsening. The Grand Jury recommends the development of a strategic plan for homelessness prevention. In addition, the Grand Jury recommends that the Board complete a cost-benefit analysis that compares the cost of providing services to people after they become homeless, to the cost of proposed homelessness prevention solutions. The Grand Jury also recommends that the Community Development Agency (CDA) be designated as the lead agency to coordinate all efforts related to homelessness prevention for older adults." #prevention #agingequity

The National Coalition on Housing Justice (NCHJ) has issued a statement on the USICH Encampment Guidance. Overall, the statement both acknowledges the affirming strategies outlined by USICH (US Interagency Council on Homelessness) to address encampments as well as those that can be interpreted by localities to continue and pursue harm and criminalization against an already-marginalized community (including youth). We are deeply saddened by the latter, but understand that this means that we simply have a great deal of worthwhile work ahead of us as those who work to end and prevent homelessness. To read the entire statement by either NCHJ or USICH visit the links below or check our bio for links. NCHJ Statement:  https://lnkd.in/e7N_84JR USICH Guidance: https://lnkd.in/enyvSu_m #endyouthhomelessness #sotm #homeless #homelessyouth #housingisahumanright Funders Together to End Homelessness

With over half a million people homeless in the U.S. on any given night, a Supreme Court case could grant states the authority to criminalize sleeping outdoors. But as USC experts warn, this won't address the root causes. “Policing might help you clear a street corner or an alleyway, but it inevitably leads to people obtaining arrest records and facing additional barriers to securing housing, a reality the system is well aware of. It isn’t a long-term solution,” says Prof. Benjamin Henwood. Research shows that providing easy, immediate access to housing is effective. Criminalizing homelessness only adds barriers. “Homelessness in the U.S. is a function of poverty, not criminality, and is strongly correlated with racial inequality,” adds Prof. Clare Pastore. Let's push for policies that prioritize housing and support services. 🏠