HANC’s February general meeting included presentations on the Homeless Bill of Rights and a discussion of how homelessness affects our neighborhood. We also received two emails expressing both support for homeless rights, but frustration with conditions the senders believe to be related to the homeless population. We have posted these emails and our response to them in the article below.
At the meeting, Paul Boden from the Western Regional Advocacy Project explained how discrimination against the homeless stemmed from a long history of mean-spirited laws to keep “certain people” out of public spaces. These included Jim Crow laws, Anti-Okie laws, Sundown towns, and Ugly Laws. Descriptions of each of these can be found at www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/HistoricalCriminalizationFactSheet.pdf. Each of these laws was eventually found to be discriminatory and unconstitutional. When the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development was established in 1965 its mission was to ensure that decent and sanitary housing would be made available to all. By the 1980’s, this was no longer HUD’s policy.
Those who don’t have housing only have public space as their living area. But living activities in public space are often made criminal—sleeping, eating, sitting, loitering (anything but moving). California Assembly Bill 5, The Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act would provide homeless people (actually, it provides everyone) with the freedom to use and move freely through public spaces, to use them for rest, to own and possess private property in public spaces, and to share, accept, and / or give food in public spaces. The bill would also prohibit discrimination based on homeless status in employment, voting, housing, and public services. The bill defines “homeless” as “individuals or families who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and who have a primary nighttime residence in a shelter, on the street, in a vehicle, in an enclosure or structure that is not authorized or fit for human habitation, substandard apartments, dwellings, doubled up temporarily with friends or families, or staying in transitional housing programs. ‘Homeless’ means any person staying in a residential hotel without tenancy rights, and families with children staying in a residential hotel whether or not they have tenancy rights.” The bill provides additional protections, such as the right to confidentiality of personal records, and the right to defense counsel. A fact sheet about the bill is available at www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/cahbrfactsheet.pdf and the full text can be read at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB5.
Karin Adams, Program Coordinator for the Homeless Youth Alliance, brought the program back to the neighborhood by explaining that the HYA serves an average of 120 homeless youth (ages 13-29) each day. Many of these young people come from dysfunctional families, the juvenile justice system, or foster care. HYA provides a safe environment, food, showers, bathrooms, medical care, and a place to receive mail, use a telephone, or use email. More information about HYA can be found on its website: homelessyouthalliance.org The Homeless Bill of Rights would help homeless youth, as most have experienced harassment from the police and discrimination because of their homeless status.
The meeting ended with people sharing their experiences: A neighbor was upset that he often had to clean up after people congregating on the sidewalk in front of his home. A homeless youth answered that he cleans up after others, and tries to encourage others on the street to respect the neighborhood. Some people create problems, but they seem to get the most attention. There are not enough public bathrooms in the neighborhood. The Panhandle bathrooms are too often locked, run out of paper towels and toilet paper, or have long lines. The self-cleaning Decaux toilet on Stanyan sprays water between uses and is usually wet. It also looks too much like a jail toilet. There are not enough shelters, and they are not safe. Possessions, even pillows, get stolen. Dogs are not allowed. For some people, living on the street is a lifestyle choice, but for most it is not.
Homelessness in San Francisco (and most everywhere) has been a problem for many years. We expect to address this issue again. HANC’s position continues to be that the best (and maybe only) solution to homelessness is more affordable housing.