this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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I thought washington had good support homeless. What gives?
Def not. Seattle had a really huge explosion from the pandemic. There was the huge encampent in international district near chinatown and seattle's skid row towards 3rd st
The city hasn't really addressed the problem and are usually just sweeping it under the rug by shuffling the people around
Encampments do not represent the entire homeless community. Those most visible encampments, littered with garbage and needles, are largely addicts or sometimes people with mental health issues.
Shuffling people around combats the street barricades and open air Fenty and gives respite to the communities that were hosting the camps.
Yes, you're right about this being only the visible part of the homeless population. It's tough to really track down on the not so visible side of homelessness. There probably are many people living in cars, crashing at friend's houses, etc.
I wont deny that living or being next to these camps is terrible. I took the bus along that route and I would never get off there because you never know what could happen there. But while shuffling people around does have benefits, it doesn't solve the problem of homelessness (no matter what the city says). Lots of this stem from the overall lack of safety nets, housing, education, etc. A tremendous task, but I'd love to see progress being made.
We have a lot of programs though. Maybe they aren't doing a good job marketing themselves. Were you aware of these? Or do you consider them insufficient or under funded?
Housing and Essential Needs (HEN): A program that provides rental assistance and essential needs like food and transportation to low-income individuals who are unable to work due to a disability.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Offers cash assistance to families with dependent children to help cover basic needs, including housing.
Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Program: Provides funding to local governments and nonprofit organizations to develop and operate housing and supportive services for homeless individuals and families.
Rapid Rehousing Programs: These programs offer short-term rental assistance and case management to help individuals and families quickly transition out of homelessness and into permanent housing.
Emergency Shelter Grants: Funding provided to local governments and nonprofit organizations to operate emergency shelters and provide essential services to homeless individuals.
Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program: A federal program administered locally that provides rental assistance vouchers to low-income individuals and families, including those experiencing homelessness.
Lots of places swung hard the other way after the pandemic. That said there's literally no easy this is constitutional and it's already been ruled on. Some civil rights place will take it on for an easy slam dunk.
I don't think the Constitution permits sleeping in any public space, but the ACLU is challenging on Eighth Amendment grounds in Grants Pass v. Johnson. So we'll know soon enough if it's Constitutional.
It doesn't specifically ensure a right to sleep no but to enjoy public places is legal, I can camp on public grounds so long as it's not gated or otherwise excluded or currently utilized. They can say don't sleep on public benches because it prevents enjoyment from others and isn't what they're there for but if you pitch a tent in the woods that's legal no matter what local governments say.
I don't think there's anything in the Constitution about enjoying public spaces either. If you're allowed to camp on state land in your state it's because your state law permits it.
If I have the right to protest on public spaces because I have a measurable property right to it then I have the same right of enjoyment for any other protected right included simply existing and the necessities thereof.
Someone already tried that in 1984. When homeless activists camped out on Lafayette Square in front of the White House, the Supreme Court ruled in Clark v. Community for Creative Nonviolence that the act of sleeping itself was “facilitative,” rather than “expressive,” meaning that campgrounds aren’t protected forms of speech at all.
No it was tried as a 1st amendment issue. It needs to be tried as a 4th amendment issue which it actually it.
Ie. Camping isn't protected under the first amendment act as it isn't expressive initself which that ruling if you read it makes clear. Essentially by itself it isn't but it could theoretically be made expressive but that hasn't be tried.
The Fourth Amendment has been interpreted to exclude not only homeless individuals’ privacy interests, but also their ability to move around in public spaces. The Fourth Amendment only covers police interactions with civilians where there is a seizure. However, an interaction is not considered a seizure when a reasonable individual would feel free to terminate the encounter (Florida v Bostick (1991)). Without a property interest to anchor a homeless individual to a particular location, a police officer’s directive to move along from a public place does not trigger any Fourth Amendment interest, since complying with the order will end the interaction and not deprive the homeless individual of any property (Stephen E. Henderson, “Move On” Orders as Fourth Amendment Seizures, 2008 BYU L. Rev. 1, 18 (2008)).
You can read it here. The defendants argued exactly that. It is the premise of the entire case.
They argue at length about the limits of this expression, and the distinction between facilitative and expressive acts. So it has definitely been tried, and has been thoroughly rebuked.
Move on is different then you cannot simply exist here, I already made mention of move on orders being legal.