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Caring Works. (n.d.). Did You Know There Are Four Types of Homelessness? CaringWorks. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.caringworksinc.org/did-you-know-there-are-four-types-of-homelessness/

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Caring Works. (n.d.). Did You Know There Are Four Types of Homelessness? CaringWorks. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.caringworksinc.org/did-you-know-there-are-four-types-of-homelessness/

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City of Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) Frequently Asked Questions. City of Grand Rapids. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/Government/Departments/Community-Development/Homelessness/Outreach-Team-FAQ

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City of Grand Rapids. (n.d.). Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) Frequently Asked Questions. City of Grand Rapids. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/Government/Departments/Community-Development/Homelessness/Outreach-Team-FAQ

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Grand Rapids is confronted with a significant social challenge: housing insecurity. Every day, individuals—men and women—are compelled to stay with friends, family, shelters, or even resort to living on the streets due to the insufficient resources available in Grand Rapids for those in need.

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Grand Rapids Area - Coalition To End Homelessness. (n.d.). Home - Coalition to End Homelessness. Retrieved November 24, 2023, from https://endhomelessnesskent.org/

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Grand Rapids Area - Coalition To End Homelessness. (n.d.). Home - Coalition to End Homelessness. Retrieved November 24, 2023, from https://endhomelessnesskent.org/

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King, J. (2023, July 26). Grand Rapids Commission approves new ordinances targeting unhoused people ⋆ Michigan Advance. Michigan Advance. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://michiganadvance.com/2023/07/26/grand-rapids-commission-approves-new-ordinances-targeting-unhoused-people/

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King, J. (2023, July 26). Grand Rapids Commission approves new ordinances targeting unhoused people ⋆ Michigan Advance. Michigan Advance. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://michiganadvance.com/2023/07/26/grand-rapids-commission-approves-new-ordinances-targeting-unhoused-people/

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Mel trotter ministries has multiple outlets for donations. You can donate by shopping at a Mel trotter ministries thrift store- where 65 cents of every dollar spent by customers is going toward helping house the homeless. These thrift stores also accept donations in terms of clothing, kitchen appliances, books, money, etc. Because donations can be given by anyone, this is an action that can be taken by anyone with extra time or resources. Mel trotter ministries- where people experiencing homelessness are housed- is located in Grand Rapids. Anyone is able to volunteer there, and there are many opportunities to volunteer. You are able to help serve food, help during activities that are held, help run a clinic, have an internship and so much more.

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In 2018, 1 in 6 African Americans were homeless in Kent County, compared to 1 in 130 White residents

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Since 2018, the homeless population in Grand Rapids has nearly doubled, from 723 in January 2018 to 1,239 in January 2023. (Kolker, 2023)

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We exist to demonstrate the compassion of Jesus Christ through rescue and restoration for anyone experiencing hunger and homelessness.

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History of: Stereotypes and Classification

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History of: Stereotypes and Classification

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The American attitudes toward people experiencing homelessness and the terms used to describe them have changed over time. Before the Civil War, distinctions were made between the deserving poor and "vagrants". During Reconstruction and the Great Depression, the terms "tramp," "bum," and "hobo" became commonplace. The modern era introduced terms such as homeless person and the more recent terms "person experiencing homelessness" and "person with lived experience."

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Sara is a drop coordinator at AYA Homeless Youth Collective, one of the only homeless centers in Grand Rapids that focuses on homeless youth, ages 14-24.

In this interview, she provides insight into her experience working with the homeless community.

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Allison Lutz ran for City Commissioner in 2019, she gives inside information on the current housing insecurity in Grand Rapids.

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In the 19th Century, poor people were categorized based on their perceived willingness and ability to work. There were the deserving or moral poor, and the undeserving poor or vagrants. Vagrants were defined as "not betaking themselves to honest occupations" which made them appear immoral and as a danger to society. Those accused of vagrancy were unable to receive assistance of any kind. Following the Civil War, these longstanding ideas of vagrancy were used to punish placeless and/or unemployed persons via new legislation. These laws made it so that those convicted of vagrancy would be forced to work or be put in jail. Recently freed African Americans in search of employment, their families, and a place to live, were often the target of vagrancy convictions. Their arrest put them back into a form of slavery in which they were forced to work with little pay.

It was not until 1972 that vagrancy laws were deemed unconstitutional. However, many cities created new policies and ordinances that continued to criminalize homelessness by making sleeping outdoors, loitering, and living in a vehicle illegal. Laws criminalizing forms of panhandling, sleeping outdoors in public spaces, and loitering still exist today.

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In the 1870s, roughly 1/5 of the population experienced homelessness. This era of economic crisis brought about new classifications for those experiencing homelessness. Those previously referred to as vagrants were called tramps, those physically unable to work or struggling with addiction were called bums, and those who worked hard and lived on the road were called hobos. "Hobos" would hitch a ride on empty boxcars or "ride the rods" of trains in search of work. This life of constant travel was one made from desperation and need, as the Civil War and later Great Depression left many placeless and/or unemployed. Hobos eventually became proud of their unconventional lives, creating a subculture with their own music, dialect, and value system. Tramps were not looked at as kindly as hobos. They were similar in their appreciation for life on the road, but tramps did not share the hobo culture's appreciation for hard work.

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After WWII, as the economy settled, employers began to prefer permanent employees over traveling laborers. With this shift, the hobo culture began to die out. Society's perspective on people experiencing homelessness turned negative, and the term bum became universal for all placeless people.

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Homeless People and People Experiencing Homelessness

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Homeless People and People Experiencing Homelessness

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In the 1970s and 80s, activists wanted to put an emphasis on the true nature of the problem: that people did not have housing. So, the terminology was shifted to homeless people, and the issue was labeled homelessness. Activists today prefer the terms people experiencing homelessness, people with lived experience, or transient people. This terminology emphasizes the prominence of temporary homelessness and fights against stigma.

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Housing insecurity by race and place during the pandemic. Center for Economic and Policy Research. (2021, April 5). https://cepr.net/report/housing-insecurity-by-race-and-place-during-the-pandemic/ 

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Housing insecurity by race and place during the pandemic. Center for Economic and Policy Research. (2021, April 5). https://cepr.net/report/housing-insecurity-by-race-and-place-during-the-pandemic/ 

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History of: Homelessness Solutions and Housing Discrimination 

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History of: Homelessness Solutions and Housing Discrimination 

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Homelessness has been addressed in various ways by the United States Government. Many of these solutions have harmed or excluded BIPOC, making them even more at risk for homelessness.

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In 2020, 8,026 people in Kent County experienced at least one episode of homelessness, a 33% increase since 2016.

In 2020, 1,007 people in Kent County experienced chronic homelessness. (Meaning that they have a documented disability and have been homeless for at least 12 months, or certain periods of time equaling 12 months)

Even though these statistics are about Kent County, Grand Rapids is the largest city within the county that is affected by homelessness. Grand Rapids has a major issue with the homeless and these statistics are only rising.

(Grand Rapids Area - Coalition To End Homelessness)

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New Rules in GR targeted to the Homeless Population

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New Rules in GR targeted to the Homeless Population

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New rules crack down on aggressive panhandling in Grand Rapids

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Courtney Hemmer, off and on homeless for two years, begs for money on street corners but understands why Grand Rapids, starting later this week, will crack down on aggressive panhandlers.

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Grand Rapids Ordinances Approved July 2023

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Grand Rapids Ordinances Approved July 2023

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Penalize a person for "accosting" someone by and ATM or while they are eating/drinking outdoors at and establishment

Can result up to a $500 fine or up to 90 days in jail

Permits the city to take "excess" or unattended personal property in parks or sidewalks

(Michigan Advance)

The issue with these ordinances is that many of these people are forced to stay on the streets and turn to asking people for money/food. Having punishment such as paying fines or spending time in jail is unfair to these people because they do not have the money to spend on fines and if they go to jail, all of their belongings will be forced to be thrown away, causing them to keep begging.

Another issue is that since the city is taking these people's personal belongings, they will not have anything to their name. It is just like if a person walked into your home and started taking all your personal belongings, this is exactly how they feel if their tent and other belongings were taken away.

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Interview shows pushback on new GR ordinances. 

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Interview shows pushback on new GR ordinances. 

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Grand Rapids city commission to vote on homelessness ordinance changes amid pushback

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Chronic Homelessness

Someone who has been continuously homeless for over a year, or has had at least 4 episodes of homelessness in 3 years. Typically, they often have severe health issues, mental illnesses, addiction, or disabilities.

Episodic Homelessness

A person who has experienced at least 3 periods of homelessness within the previous year. Typically younger individuals who suffer from mental illnesses or addiction.

Traditional Homelessness

The most common form of homelessness and can be described as a person who has become homeless due to a major life or catastrophic event. Typically they are younger individuals or families who seek shelters or temporary housing.

Hidden Homelessness

Typically goes unreported and undocumented, it is temporary housing like couch surfing with friends or family. Individuals can also find themselves at hotels/motels during these times also.

(Caring Works)

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Homelessness has been a persistent issue since the colonization of the United States. American attitudes toward individuals experiencing homelessness have always focused on the wrongdoings of the individual, instead of societal or external factors. As such, there has been a reluctance to help these individuals and an inclination to punish them. The solution for someone experiencing homelessness at the time was to get them a job, not to provide them with housing. When extra aid was needed, it was expected to be provided by the community and private charities, not the government.

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African Americans were, and are still greatly impacted by this individualistic perspective. After the Civil War, black codes, including vagrancy laws, pushed them into prisons and forced labor. They received no financial compensation from the government and quickly became dependent upon white landowners for employment and housing. Vagrancy laws prevented relocation and families from finding each other once again. When the government finally began to provide assistance to the unhoused, "Black people were explicitly excluded from most of these programs," (Beardsley). Though they legally had freedom, they did not have the opportunity to grow wealth or create stability, the two things necessary for success in a capitalist society.

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The 1937 Wagner-Steagall Housing Act created the United States Housing Authority, which provided low-interest loans, insured by the government, for housing and housing projects across the country. However, communities that housed BIPOC were deemed too "unsafe" to issue the federally insured loans. BIPOC were also not allowed to purchase a home in white neighborhoods. This practice was called "redlining" as African-American communities were outlined in red on banker's maps. Redlining was endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration. Discriminatory covenants were also created to maintain segregation. These covenants would prohibit the owner from selling to any BIPOC. Although these practices were made illegal by the Fair Housing Act, their impact is still apparent today. Most wealth is created through the ownership of property. Housing discrimination made it nearly impossible for Black communities to generate wealth. Today, African Americans hold "about 5 percent of white wealth," which has made it harder to purchase property in more expensive white neighborhoods that have accumulated and inherited wealth for generations. Housing discrimination, in tandem with other forms of institutional racism, has increased the likelihood that a BIPOC will face homelessness.

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All of us are very aware of the rising homeless population in Grand Rapids and wanted to learn more about how and why this is happening. Hannahs sister ran for city commissioner in 2019 which increased her awareness. Brielle also has a connection to a drop coordinator at AYA Homeless Youth Collective which helped give insight on the issue. Through class discussions and our volunteering opportunities, we got to see how it's really impacting people.

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Degage is another organization that assists homeless in Grand Rapids. They serve meals, home, assist in getting legal ID's, and securing a decent job for people needing any of those needs. Anyone can get involved to help serve any meals, and they also have an open door bakery where people can volunteer to help make baked goods and package them for selling.

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Emergency services include 3 nutritious meals/day served in the Community Center which also serves as a warming and cooling center during extreme temperatures. The Wellness Center provides showers, haircuts, and a Rest Center where those recovering from surgery or illness can rest. Dégagé's Open Door Women's Center provides emergency shelter for up to 100 women per night.

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Dégagé Ministries || Bringing Hope to the Homeless in Grand Rapids

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Dégagé Ministries offers hope and opportunity to those facing homelessness and poverty in Grand Rapids. Learn more about our programs.

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Social workers, alone, cannot solve the issue of homelessness- just as they cannot solve every other issue. That does not mean we should not give time when we can. Giving does not mean we need to give up resources, or buy brand new things for people. Giving up time is a perfect way to show someone that you see them and what they are going through.

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Late 19th Century - World War 2:

The Great Depression inspired the first federal legislation enacted to address homelessness: the Emergency Relief and Construction Act and the National Industry Recovery Act. This legislation funded the creation of low-cost housing, subsistence homesteads, and other housing projects.

Post World War 2:

After the war, the United States had a severe housing shortage. To combat this, the United States chose to tear down areas they called "slums" and build suitable and affordable housing. This process was called urban renewal and was initiated by the Housing Acts of 1949, 1954, and 1956. Urban renewal displaced many BIPOC families and individuals. They did not receive relocation compensation until the Housing Act of 1956.

The 1960s - 1970s:

The 1960s saw the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Housing and Urban Renewal Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act. The Housing and Urban Renewal Act provided a "rent supplement for low-income, disabled, and elderly individuals" (National Academies of Sciences). The Fair Housing Act made housing discrimination illegal.

In 1974, the Housing and Community Development Act was passed. Section 8, or the Housing Choice Voucher program, was created by this legislation. With a choice voucher, someone experiencing homelessness could choose housing to rent at a subsidized cost.

In 1977, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assitance Act was passed. It created definitions for homelessness, provided financial assistance to shelters, and a health care fund called Health Care for the Homeless.

1990s - 2010s:

In 1997, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) was created. During the early 2000s, more programs were created to provide "low-threshold and permanent supportive housing programs," chronic homelessness was federally defined, and state and local governments were asked to "create 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness," (National Academies of Sciences). In 2009, the HEARTH Act was signed into law with the goal of securing permanent housing for persons experiencing homelessness. A year later, the Obama administration released "a federal strategic plan to end homelessness," (National Academies of Sciences).

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519584/

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The Grand Rapids H.O.T (Homeless Outreach Team) are people who advocate for those who are experiencing homelessness. They began this program in April of 2020 and the team is made up of 4 core members, 2 Grand Rapids Police Officers, and 2 Grand Rapids Fire Personnel. Additionally, they work beside Network 180, social workers, and addiction and recovery specialists.

Their mission statement states, "to preserve health and safety and improve outcomes for homeless persons and our community.” (City of Grand Rapids) These people are able to provide safe and successful resources to those in need and create powerful relationships between people of authority and someone who is experiencing homelessness.

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NBCUniversal News Group. (2023, June 1). Global survey finds 9% of adults identify as LGBTQ. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/global-survey-finds-9-adults-identify-lgbtq-rcna87288 

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NBCUniversal News Group. (2023, June 1). Global survey finds 9% of adults identify as LGBTQ. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/global-survey-finds-9-adults-identify-lgbtq-rcna87288 

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A global survey done by NBC shows that approximately 9% of the worlds population identifies as LGBTQ+. Further surveys have shown that people that are LGBTQ+ are far more likely to be homeless. The Trevor Project explains that 22% of LGBTQ+ youth have experienced homelessness.

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Mental illness correlation to homelessness

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Mental illness correlation to homelessness

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The homeless population is made up of 30% of individuals that have some form of mental illness. This puts a further block between these people and acquiring the resources to help them gain stable housing.

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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). (2011). The 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Washington, DC. [2010 AHAR]

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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). (2011). The 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Washington, DC. [2010 AHAR]

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https://www.canva.com/design/DAF1bEmNCfo/VU963U08aHuMomhFAO7Z4Q/edit?utm_content=DAF1bEmNCfo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519584/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AMy3UR-77U

https://nationalhomeless.org/hoboes-bums-tramps/

https://virginiahistory.org/learn/story-of-virginia/chapter/reconstruction

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/vagrancy-act-of-1866/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/what-is-redlining.html

https://www.alta.org/advocacy/housing-opportunities/discriminatory-covenants#:~:text=In%20the%20early%20part%20of,%2C%20and%20restrictions%20(CC%26Rs

https://www.thn.org/2021/08/13/history-of-homelessness/

https://www.fdrlibrary.org/housing#:~:text=The%20new%20law%20established%20the,small%20and%20large%20urban%20areas

https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgLTRBcIWyc&pp=ygUXaG9tbGVzc25lc3MgdW50cmFjdGFibGU%3D

I learned about this topic through these sources. Information from these sources has been synthesized and paraphrased.

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- Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan
From vagrancy laws to anti-camping statutes, the United States has a long history of proscribing the subsistence activities of impoverished people. Is it finally moving toward the decriminalization of homelessness?
One night in January of 1837, a man by the name of Wilcox was "found" by one of Philadelphia's night watchmen "nearly frozen...sleeping upon a snow bank." The watchman arrested him, and Wilcox was sentenced to thirty days in jail for vagrancy. Five years earlier, a woman named Unis Maria Quin was arrested for "wandering about the streets without a house." A decade before that, in New York City, "a small boy" named James McCoy was arrested after being found asleep "in a sandbox" because he had "no place to live." One hundred and seventy years later, Robert Martin, Lawrence Lee Smith, Robert Anderson, Janet Bell, Pamela Hawkes, and Basil Humphrey received citations from Boise, Idaho police for "the use of public property as a temporary or permanent place of dwelling" and use of public property as "a camping place." No particular ties bind these individuals to each other, and their arrests were quotidian-nothing more than single line entries in jail dockets. But they are examples of experiences shared across centuries, linked by legal processes that have actively punished those experiencing poverty and homelessness.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the United States, laws against vagrancy-which were borrowed from English precedent in the colonial era, defined a vagrant as a person who was homeless, poor, a beggar, and/or a transient, and criminalized many of the activities that people experiencing poverty needed or chose to carry out in public. These laws restricted the movement of "wanderers," many of whom traveled in search of work, to prohibit them from seeking aid derived from taxpayer-funded poor relief dollars. Much of this legislation sought to deter people from becoming dependent upon public relief, assuming that poverty most often resulted from a lack of personal industry or a peripatetic personal nature. Welfare statutes and vagrancy laws effectively made it illegal for "poor people" to move "from one county to another," as one Maryland statute from 1811 phrased it. New York's 1820s vagrancy laws called for the arrest of people "wandering abroad and lodging in taverns, groceries, beer-houses, out-houses, market-places, sheds or barns, or in the open air," while Pennsylvania's targeted "persons who shall come from any place without this commonwealth to any place within it...and shall follow no labor, trade, occupation, or business, and have no visible means of 'subsistence.'" Individuals who fit any of these categories were considered vagrants and sentenced to anywhere from a few days in jail to months spent in prison. Some estimate that there was a daily average of as many as fifty thousand people classified as vagrants in New York City during the 1840s.

Long before the word vagrant conjured up a Great Depression-era rail-riding hobo, it denoted people who were homeless, who traveled in search of work, who had escaped from the bonds of slavery and lived as fugitives, and who otherwise struggled to subsist independently. In the popular imagination, vagrants are often assumed to be white men on the fringes of society, perhaps suffering from alcoholism, mental illness, or some other malady. In reality, from the vagabonds of the nineteenth century to the housing insecure and impoverished of the twenty first century, individuals who the law has categorized as vagrants have always been a diverse group of men, women, and children working toward survival. According to the data I collected for my book, Vagrants and Vagabonds: Poverty and Mobility in the Early American Republic (NYU Press, 2019), in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century, nearly half of convicted vagrants were women, and nearly half were African American. Children were also frequently charged with vagrancy.

Untold numbers of Americans were arrested for living their lives outdoors before vagrancy laws were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1972. But that did not, of course, stop municipalities from instituting laws that punished the same statuses and behaviors under different categories. Since then, statutes punishing loitering, panhandling, and camping on public land filled the void left by vagrancy laws. Towns and cities found new ways to move the subsistence activities of people experiencing poverty out of the view of the public, while some even pawned the fiscal responsibility for poor transients off on other municipalities by issuing "move along" warnings and bussing people across town, county, and state lines. A study conducted by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty found that, as of 2016, about half of 187 cities they studied prohibited loitering, a quarter had laws that prohibited sleeping in public places, and more than a third prohibited living in vehicles. Between 2006 and 2016, bans on sleeping in public increased by 31%.

And yet, just a few months ago, in September of 2018, in the case of Martin v. Boise, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a federal ruling that municipalities' efforts to criminalize sleeping outdoors constituted cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment. This ruling, which overturns what many advocates for housing insecure people have long called a violation of the constitutional rights of the homeless, marks a dramatic shift in centuries-old policies that criminalize the subsistence activities of people experiencing poverty. While this is a watershed moment in the fight to end statutory punishments for homelessness, its scope is still narrow: the ruling only covers nine states, and does not address punishments for loitering, panhandling, and other subsistence crimes. Nationwide, rates of homelessness continue to rise. More than a million children enrolled in American public schools lack stable housing. But there are suggestions, such as recent efforts by the city of Philadelphia to increase its aid provision and outreach to people experiencing homelessness, including a statement from Mayor Jim Kenney that the city will not "arrest people for being homeless," that policy change may finally be on the horizon.

The battle over homelessness and the legality of the subsistence activities of people experiencing poverty continues. There are, of course, nuanced differences between the vagrancy prosecutions of the nineteenth century and the loitering and public camping violations of the twenty first, but the impact that each have had on the populations of those experiencing homelessness is, in many ways, functionally the same. The continuity in the history of vagrancy and anti-poverty policing demonstrates how completely ineffective punitive policies criminalizing homelessness have been at decreasing rates of poverty and housing insecurity. The Martin v. Boise ruling is a catalyst for individual cities and courts across the country to distance themselves from the centuries-old policies to which they have long adhered that have left people experiencing homelessness in jail and in the cold.

Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan is Instructor in the Department of History at Rutgers University.

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The United States' long history of criminalizing homelessness - From The Square

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The US has a long history of proscribing the subsistence activities of impoverished people. Is it finally moving toward the decriminalization of homelessness?