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After looking at contemporary issues and examples of the homelessness crisis, we can begin to turn towards possible solutions to help relieve those experiencing houselessness.

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Now that we have examined policing practices of the past, we can begin to look at modern issues relating to homelessness.

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Combatting Poverty and Decriminalizing Homelessness Through a Race Equity Lens

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Combatting Poverty and Decriminalizing Homelessness Through a Race Equity Lens

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This webpage by the American Bar Association discusses the intersectionality of race and homelessness and the impact of criminalization policies. They explain how people of color are disproportionately impacted by homelessness and criminalization policies, and how these policies perpetuate systemic racism and inequality.

The ABA also provides Blueprints for Action, which addresses how the housing market, food inadequacies, and lack of educational resources contribute towards the houselessness crisis.

The ABA suggests alternative approaches to addressing homelessness that prioritize housing and supportive services, as well as policy changes to address racial disparities in homelessness and criminalization.

Lastly, resources and information for lawyers and advocates are included to support decriminalization efforts and promote racial equity in addressing homelessness.

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Background

Poverty and homelessness in the United States are largely outgrowths of institutionalized racism. Inequity in housing, education, healthcare and wealth creation is inextricable from that which fuels police brutality, mass incarceration of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color ("BIPOC"), and the criminalization of poverty. Instead of addressing the inequities in those systems, our national, state, and local governments have tasked our criminal justice system to police and punish those who have suffered the most. As a profession, we must recognize our role in creating and perpetuating this system.

This Commission was established to be the voice of the Association on matters related to homelessness and poverty and to fiercely advocate for the policies leading to their end. Consistent with that duty, we urge consideration of the resources on this page to assist in taking action equal to the moral imperative of the ongoing movement occasioned by the continued criminalization of homelessness and poverty and its disproportionate effect on BIPOC.

Anti-Poverty Initiative

Collaborate to Advocate Initiative
Nearly 50 million Americans now live below the federal poverty line. Recent societal, economic, and political events have generated unprecedented public awareness of historic levels of income inequality, children in poverty, and disparate treatment and impacts of the law and justice systems on communities of color and populations that face other barriers and obstacles to justice. The Commission is identifying, promoting and implementing best practices for eliminating legal and justice system-related policies, practices and procedures that perpetuate or worsen the harmful effects of poverty and discrimination. Learn more here: Anti-Poverty Collaborate to Advocate One Pager Toolkit for Communities Seeking to Develop and Operationalize Local Anti-Poverty Agendas: A Blueprint for Action
Anti-Poverty Toolkit
1. Substandard and unaffordable housing and homelessness 2. Disproportionate involvement in criminal and civil justice systems 3. Food inadequacy 4. Inadequate healthcare and poor health outcomes 5. Inadequate education outcomes 6. Lack of opportunity for full employment at a living wage 7. Living through an unending and continuous cycle of crises 8. Lack of personal and physical safety 9. Stigma and lack of personal dignity 10. Isolation from community and political infrastructure

Anti-Poverty Toolkit This toolkit was created in partnership with anti-poverty stakeholders across the nation whom the Commission convened at Anti-Poverty Roundtables. The toolkit does not purport to provide all the answers to eliminating poverty; rather, it serves as a humble compilation of best practices we've encountered thus far.

Tips on Legislative Advocacy

Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness and Poverty

People of color are not only disproportionately affected by poverty, they're also disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Outstanding criminal charges (like trespassing, fines, fees, etc.) are often barriers to housing, employment and other vital resources. Homeless Courts resolve these barriers to stability through recognizing voluntary, individualized action to satisfy fines, fees, and case dismissal.

Homeless Court and Pre-Booking Diversion Resources

Programming

2020

Webinar Recording: Emerging Innovative Racial Equity Focused Initiatives for Youth: Spotlight on Los Angeles, CA (December 2020)

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (November 17, 2020)

2019

Montgomery County, Maryland, Community Forum: Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness (April 26, 2019, Rockville, Maryland)

2018

Combatting the Criminalization of Homelessness: The Role of Young Lawyers

2017

Class-Crits Annual Symposium, New Orleans, Louisiana (November)

Collaborate to Advocate: Washington, DC (April): Agenda & Briefing Book; Report from Summit

2016

Collaborate to Advocate: Birmingham, AL; Selma, AL; Montgomery, AL (April)

ARTICLE: Anti-poverty movement draws Alabama activists

View other Commission programming here

Racial Equity in the Justice System

The ABA's central clearinghouse of ABA-related information and resources for attorneys, the legal profession and the public on a wealth of issues addressing bias, racism and prejudice in the justice system and society.

Click here to view the ABA's Task Force on Building Trust in the American Justice System 2017 Report.

Click here to view the ABA-NAACP Legal Defense Fund joint statement on Eliminating Bias in the Criminal Justice System (2015).

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Race Equity and the Decriminalization of Homelessness

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Poverty and homelessness in the United States are largely outgrowths of institutionalized racism. Inequity in housing, education, healthcare and wealth creation is inextricable from that which fuels police brutality, mass incarceration of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color ("BIPOC"), and the criminalization of poverty.

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by the National Alliance to End Homelessness

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This article from the NAEH explains how criminalizing homelessness is ineffective and inhumane, and suggests that providing housing and supportive services is a more effective solution.

The article emphasizes the importance of collaboration between different agencies and organizations to effectively address homelessness, and provides examples of successful programs and initiatives that have implemented these approaches.

Connecticut: public services are helping assure that people experiencing chronic homelessness will not be charged for minor offenses, reducing harassment from law enforcement.

Portland: the first homeless community liaison to communicate and coordinate with unhoused people to create a response plan and "address the underlying root causes of police contact."

New York: the Corporation for Supportive Housing's FUSE initiative provides houseless individuals with supportive housing to eventually find permanent housing, greatly reducing the number of people on the streets.

Oakland: funding "community-based alternatives to policing" with mental health response teams

Overall, the article advocates for more compassionate and effective solutions to homelessness that prioritize housing and services over criminalization and policing.

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As described in part one of this series, unsheltered homelessness presents a unique aspect of danger: the criminalization of homelessness puts those living outdoors at constant risk of potentially dangerous interactions with police. Shifting the response to unsheltered homelessness from a carceral one to a community-based one means protecting the people we serve. Seizing upon the current wave of renewed national interest in decarceral forms of justice, the field can move quickly to enact progress for unsheltered people. Some communities, municipalities, and activist organizations in the U.S. have already begun taking steps to decriminalize homelessness, replacing some carceral tactics with housing and support service.

Connecticut

Service providers in Connecticut are working together with prosecutors to secure guarantees that they will not prosecute chronically or unsheltered homeless people for minor offenses. This reduces the likelihood that police officers and other system officials will attempt to arrest, harass, or institutionalize unsheltered people, and may reduce interactions between police and people experiencing homelessness altogether. This would decrease the likelihood of both police brutality and permanent arrest records which may further burden people later on.

Connecticut is also introducing a public education campaign encouraging citizens to contact 211 instead of 911 for non-emergency situations. This includes people experiencing homelessness and people experiencing mental health crises, which will result in trained resource personnel responding instead of police. 911 dispatch staff are also being trained in identifying emergency vs. non-emergency or mental health situations. These changes should have the result of decreasing overall interactions between police and people experiencing homelessness.

Portland, OR

In 2019, the Portland Police Bureau hired its first " homeless community liaison ", Stephanie Herro. The position is a law enforcement role tasked with serving as primary contact between local homeless service providers, social service agencies, and the police, and with developing a strategic response plan for responding to Portland's growing unsheltered population, including collaborating with the Bureau's Training Division to ensure ground officers are properly trained in providing services to unsheltered people.

Portland PB also houses the city's Service Coordination Team, which administers "housing, treatment, and robust services to address the underlying root causes of police contact and to help break the entrenched cycle of addiction and criminality." This unit is for qualifying repeat system users, not exclusively people experiencing homelessness, but many users do suffer chronic homelessness.

Finally, the Bureau's Behavioral Health Response Teams (BHRT) "pair(s) a patrol officer and a qualified mental health professional" from a local service provider to respond appropriately to mental health crises, reduce the risk of force in police interactions, administer appropriate community resources and services to those in need, and ultimately reduce to interactions between police and people with mental illnesses. Referrals to the BHRT cars are made through patrol officers. A 2018 study of the Service Coordination Team (SCT) indicates that those who completed the SCT program saw an 88.5 percent reduction in arrests and those who began but did not complete the program saw a 27.5 percent reduction in arrests. 46 percent of participants had a zero arrest rate within twelve months of program completion.

New York City

The Corporation for Supportive Housing's (CSH) FUSE initiative identifies frequent users of public systems, including hospitals, jails or prisons, and shelters, and provides them with supportive housing, significantly reducing returns. Two years after this program was carried out in New York City with a pilot cohort of 200 members, 86% of participants were in permanent housing. Shelter use among users also declined dramatically, with a 15-day shelter average over two years compared to 162 days over two years for non-participants. Psychiatric hospitalization was reduced by half. Over the 24 months after housing placement, FUSE participants averaged 29 jail days vs. 48 jail days for the matched comparison group. Each participant generated $15,000 in public savings ($20k vs $35k).

Oakland

Recent legislative ventures also suggest a growing national interest in an innovative, decarceral approach to homelessness and policing. For example, Oakland's city council recently unanimously approved a plan fund community-based alternatives to policing; Denver has successfully begun diverting police funding and replacing officers with response teams of mental health care experts; Minneapolis has reallocated millions of dollars to fund alternatives to policing; Austin has slashed its police budget by nearly half; and more than a dozen other cities across the country have made tangible steps toward reigning in their respective police departments, and increasing and improving the available community-based responses to low-level offenses. For people experiencing homelessness, this trend could make an incomprehensible difference in quality of life.

A Shifting Vision

Increasingly, and even more rapidly over the last year, public opinion is shifting away from militarization and carceral forms of justice as a norm, or even an acceptable practice. The homelessness system is in a position to capitalize on this trend, by promoting change at the national level, and helping impact it at the local level. Advocating for the diversion of funds away from bloated police budgets and toward meaningful community responses; repealing and outlawing local ordinances criminalizing quality of life or life-sustaining activities in public spaces; implementing collaborative, cohesive strategies and systems preventing the need for police intervention; and investing in meeting the urgent needs the needs of unhoused people are critical strategies for moving toward an end to homelessness. They also could be saving the lives of the people we serve.

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As described in part one of this series, unsheltered homelessness presents a unique aspect of danger: the criminalization of homelessness puts those living outdoors at constant risk of potentially dangerous interactions with police. Shifting the response to unsheltered homelessness from [...]

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1. ABA. “Combatting Poverty and Decriminalizing Homelessness Through a Race Equity Lens.” Americanbar.org, 2020. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/homelessness_poverty/race-equity-decriminalization-homelessness/.

2. Berger, Dan, and Toussaint Losier. “Roots: Challenging Prison Slavery & Political Repression” Chapter in Rethinking the American Prison Movement. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018, 15-31).

3. Amos, Dave. How Can Cities End Homelessness? YouTube. YouTube, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41peAlrkGw.

4. Hernández, Kelly Lytle. “Hobos in Heaven.” City of Inmates, 2017, 410–46. https://doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631189.003.0003.

5. Kerman, Scott. “Homeless, Houseless, and Unhoused: A Glossary of Terms Used to Talk about Homelessness.” Blanchet House, August 30, 2022. https://blanchethouse.org/homeless-houseless-unhoused-glossary-about-homelessness/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%20advocates%20and,experiencing%20homelessness%20or%20housing%20insecurity.

6. NAEH. “Alternatives to Criminalization.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, June 3, 2021. https://endhomelessness.org/blog/alternatives-to-criminalization/.

7. O’Brassill-Kulfan, K. (2019). “Severe punishment for their misfortunes and poverty”: Philadelphia’s Arch Street Prison, 1804–37. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 143(3), 247-269. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/741113.

8. Rowland, Lee. “At Liberty Podcast: The Criminalization of Homelessness”  Interview with Maria Foscarinis. ACLU. Podcast audio. December 13, 2018.  https://www.aclu.org/podcast/criminalization-homelessness-ep-26

9. VICE News. Living Homeless in the Desert. YouTube. YouTube, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzbU-9L1WS4.

10. VICE News. The Hidden Homelessness Crisis In California . YouTube. YouTube, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wCHtOTxQak.

11. Waters, Carlos. Why Cities Are Full of Uncomfortable Benches. YouTube. YouTube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeyLEe1T0yo.

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Why Cities Are Full Of Uncomfortable Benches

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Why Cities Are Full Of Uncomfortable Benches

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All around the United States, cities are installing uncomfortable benches and "leaning bars" in order to prevent people from sleeping on them. This is known as hostile architecture, and is purposefully designed for discomfort.

Defensive design limits the way in which objects/spaces can be used by the public and includes: security cameras, turnstiles, bars and spikes, knobs, sprinklers, sidewalk barriers and planters, streetlights to deter, primarily houseless, people from staying in public spaces overnight.

These efforts affect both houseless individuals along with people with disabilities as they navigate cities.

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Why cities are full of uncomfortable benches

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In this 2018 podcast, Lee Rowland interviews Maria Foscarinis, the founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, to discuss the systemic obstacles to "address the needs of homeless people" in the United States.

The podcast argues that current anti-homeless laws and policing go against the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment against the unhoused. Cities and businesses promote these habits in order to remove the unhoused from public view, and throws them into an underfunded and overcrowded shelter system. Lee makes notes how these laws seem like relics from the 18th and 19th century, but are still alive and well today.

Activists and advocacy programs campaign for "housing not handcuffs," but require more substantial legislation to be passed in order to solve the homelessness crisis.

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As homelessness steadily rises in America, so too does the willingness of state and local governments to use criminal laws against their homeless residents. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court found that laws making it illegal to sleep in public violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment when they're used against individuals without access to shelter. Maria Foscarinis, the founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, discusses the decision, criminalization broadly, and other systemic obstacles to addressing the needs of homeless people.

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The Criminalization of Homelessness | American Civil Liberties Union

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As homelessness steadily rises in America, so too does the willingness of state and local governments to use criminal laws against their homeless residents. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court found that laws making it illegal to sleep in public violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment when they're used against individuals without access to shelter.

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While the primary focus of this project will be on homelessness in California, it's important to have an understanding of how policies against the lower class and minority groups throughout the country have influenced modern criminalization by the carceral state.

In this section, we will examine three case studies that provide a brief history of the homelessness and vagrancy crisis in the United States between 1804-1910.

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When picturing a hobo, one's mind is drawn to cartoon depictions of dirty train-hoppers in search of a handout, falling prey to comedic run-ins with the police or a scorned housewife that had her pie stolen off the windowsill. The idea of a "traditional" hobo, who moved from town to town to look for work, has died down since World War II, the issue of homelessness and joblessness has not.

In recent years, discussion of the carceral state in America has been rightly placed on police brutality and budgeting. However, this has shifted the focus away from the ever-present issue of homelessness in the United States.

As of 2020, the United States has over 560,000 people living without a home. California has the highest number of unhoused individuals, and counts for approximately 25% of the homeless population in America (3).

In this project, we will see how unjust policing has affected the houseless crisis in the United States from the early 19th and 20th century, how it still affects us today, and offer potential solutions to this issue.

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In this 2020 video, City Beautiful addresses the ongoing homelessness crisis and offers two approaches used by cities to solve it: Housing First, and Treatment First.

The Housing First approach sees homelessness as a crisis facing vulnerable people in need of help and focuses on finding treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues, ensuring adequate housing, reducing time spent homeless, and preventing homelessness from happening in the first place.

The Treatment First approach sees the unhoused as a human blight on the city and seeks to remove homeless people from public view through policing. Programs often withhold housing assistance until people are free from substance abuse issues or are employed, which ultimately fails to address the larger issue at hand.

The video emphasizes that the Housing First model has been successful in other countries like Finland, and would be the most proactive approach in solving the homelessness crisis.

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Homeless, Houseless, and Unhoused: A Glossary of Terms Used to Talk about Homelessness

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Homeless, Houseless, and Unhoused: A Glossary of Terms Used to Talk about Homelessness

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Before diving into the discussion on houselessness, it's important to define our terms which this article from the Blanchet House helps provide.

"In recent years advocates and activists have begun to use the word unhoused or houseless to describe individuals without a physical address... Government agencies and research institutions continue to use the word homeless when reporting on people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity."

This project will use the terms "homeless(ness)" and "houseless(ness)" interchangeably, however it is important to recognize that words have the ability to empower or diminish a person's humanity.

Terms

Homeless: having no home or permanent place of residence

Houseless: used in place of homeless, people described as homeless are not necessarily without homes

Home: the personal community in which people live

House: a physical structure where people live

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Are you confused by the different words used to describe homelessness? You're not alone. Should you use homeless, houseless, or unhoused when describing someone's circumstances? We hope this glossary about homelessness helps.
In recent years advocates and activists have begun to use the word or to describe individuals without a physical address. However, government agencies and research institutions continue to use the word when reporting on people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.

Why are the words changing?

Words Have Power

The words we use to talk about people and describe their circumstances are important. Words can center or diminish a person's humanity.

Disability rights activist Emily Ladau rightly says that " language is one of the most important signals that we have to demonstrate our acceptance or rejection of a person's identity."

So, let's think about what words used to describe a person's homelessness mean and imply. And as we consider language, let's also consider that the people we're talking about have opinions about this, as well, and deserve to have ownership over how they identify themselves and are identified by others.

The following is meant as a guide rather than a prescription.

Homeless, Houseless, or Unhoused

Homeless

is a word most often used to describe people living unsheltered on sidewalks, in tents , camps, cars, or RVs. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word homeless as "having no home or permanent place of residence."

Houseless

More frequently, the word is used in place of homeless . The reason is the important distinction between a house and a home. People described as homeless are not necessarily without homes.

Home

Home is the word we use to describe the personal community in which we live. Home includes our loved ones and pets, our important or sentimental possessions and valuables, and our traditions and rituals.

House

House is the structure in which all of this takes place. It's why we say, "home sweet home" and not "house sweet house." We experience homesickness, not house-sickness.

If "home is where the heart is," then people experiencing homelessness absolutely have homes. But they don't have a house. They may have shelter, but not shelter we ordinarily think of as a house .

People Experiencing Homelessness or Houselessness

Sometimes the phrase "people experiencing hom elessness or houselessness" is used. This phrase emphasizes the humans at the center of this crisis rather than the houses. This phrase also underscores that the problem isn't the people themselves but the lack of housing and affordable housing.

These are individuals experiencing the effects of our housing shortage and increasingly unaffordable rental market. They are technically homeless, houseless, and unhoused.

Houses Come in Many Shapes and Sizes

Above I wrote that people experiencing houselessness don't have houses. That's not entirely accurate. Houses can come in all shapes and sizes and often vary among cultures and histories. In that light, even houselessness or people experiencing houselessness seems not the best terminology.

This brings me to the phrases "housing insecurity" and "people experiencing housing insecurity."

Housing Insecurity

The term housing insecurity most completely describes the varied experiences and challenges of people who are homeless/houseless , as well as those who are at risk of becoming so. Using this terminology emphasizes the factors that contribute to a person's homelessness/houselessness.

There are many contributing factors, all of them extremely complex and essential to address if we are ever to fully solve this crisis.

Mental health or addiction is perhaps the most visible contributing factor right now. This is certainly true in Old Town, where Blanchet House serves.

Mental illness and addiction often go hand in hand because people experiencing the trauma of living on the street-on top of the trauma that may have led them there-medicate to dull the pain and soothe their anxiety. "Homeless first, addict second" is a phrase we hear from people we serve.

Those in addiction recovery also are housing insecure. We frequently me e t people whose recovery was successful until something caused them to relapse, often a personal tragedy like the chronic illness or death of a loved one. Relapse leads to loss of employment which then leads to loss of housing. This is not an uncommon story.

Housing Affordability

Affordability is definitely a key component of housing insecurity. People lose their housing because they can no longer afford it. Many people in our community exist on the knife's edge of losing their housing because they are "rent burdened" or "severely rent burdened," which means too much of their monthly income is required to sustain it. Any change in their financial situation-reduced hours at work, an unexpected health care or repair bill, increased rent-can result in houselessness.

This means we can't talk about housing affordability without addressing contributing factors such as the lack of living wages in our community, high health care costs and the lack of insurance, the lack of affordable daycare, and the general effects of high prices all around (gas, groceries, utilities).

The high cost of rent often requires two or more housing insecure individuals to room together. While doubling or tripling up can solve paying rent and utilities, it doesn't make the housing very secure because if one roommate suddenly can't pay their way, all the roommates may find themselves evicted.

Affordability is crucial, but it isn't everything because housing also needs to be safe and healthy.

Safe Housing for Homeless, Houseless, or Unhoused

A person's housing might be unsafe because of who is living there or nearby. People living with an abuser-be it domestic abuse, child abuse, or elder abuse-are housing insecure. People living in a high-crime neighborhood or complex are insecure.

Housing might be unsafe because there is inadequate heating or cooling. It might be unsafe because of environmental pollutants, infestations, or disrepair.

We see stories in the media about predatory landlord or property management situations. Tenants are harassed or even threatened because they complain about their residences being uninhabitable. I spoke to one woman who lived on the second floor of an apartment complex with her children. The fumes from the meth lab below made living there impossible, especially when no one would do anything to help them.

This is the face of housing insecurity.

And housing insecurity is also a historical situation. Transgenerational poverty, housing discrimination and segregation, and racial discrimination are important factors to be addressed. We know people who became houseless after revealing their sexual or identity preference to family and then had to flee because of the abuse they suffered as a result.

When we acknowledge that the solution to houselessness is more housing, we must underscore that this means safe, dignified housing and that the variety of circumstances that render someone's housing insecure must be addressed.

"I once was homeless and can relate," says Jennifer Coon, a Peer Support Specialist at Blanchet House. "I don't want to offend anyone or put them in a category. I don't want to make what's happening in their lives right now define them."

The physical structure is important, but it's not the whole picture.

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Homeless, Houseless, and Unhoused: A Glossary of Terms Used to Talk about Homelessness - Blanchet House

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Are you confused by the different words used to describe homelessness? You're not alone. Should you use homeless, houseless, or unhoused when describing someone's circumstances? We hope this glossary about homelessness helps. In recent years advocates and activists have begun to use the word or to describe individuals without a physical address.

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Denver Homeless Veteran on the Criminalization of Homelessness

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Denver Homeless Veteran on the Criminalization of Homelessness

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In this 2019 interview from the non-profit organization, Invisible People, a houseless marine veteran from Denver named Jerry talks about the criminalization of homelessness in the United States.

Jerry was evicted by his landlord due to a name mix up, and has lived on the streets for roughly seven months. Jerry, like 60% of the unhoused population in Denver, works part time jobs but is unable to afford a permanent residence.

He relates dealing with the police as being “a job within a job of being homeless,” as they stop and harass unhoused individuals, removing their tents from public places and sometimes into the trash.

Jerry has personally been ticketed three times for "urban camping," but cannot afford to pay them off. He refers to this broken system as "21st century slavery… they fine you and suspend you and give you 2-4-6 hours of community service, which means you’re working for the city for free," echoing Jim Crow laws and the Hobos in Heaven article.

The video reminds us that "unhoused people are no different than housed people… except one thing, they don’t have a place to call their own," and that the government should allocate more funds to address the roots of the issue rather than policing.

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Denver Homeless Veteran on the Criminalization of Homelessness

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From 1804 to 1837, Arch Street Prison was home to the outcasts of society: tramps, debtors, and other lower-class White inmates– with approximately 2/3rds of the inmates being charged by ill defined vagrancy laws. The prisoners were sentenced and separated based on their socioeconomic class, which determined the conditions they would live in (250).

Prisons during these times were often overcrowded, and the reform movement at the time was to separate petty and hardened criminals from one another so as to not further push incarcerated individuals towards crime again. However, this treatment did not apply to the poor incarcerated who had been targeted for vagrancy or for debt, as they “were viewed almost as hopeless causes, merely to be kept away from the general population,” (251-252) rather than rehabilitation or assistance.

Ultimately, this level of negligence allowed for a cholera outbreak to kill 1/3rd of the prisoners in 1832 and the prison would be demolished in 1837 as larger facilities were being built. What Arch Street reveals is an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that is present in incarceration methods for both Black and White prisoners; by removing them from the public view, the rest of ‘proper’ society can go about their lives.

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By examining how past and present criminalization of the unhoused has not solved the homelessness crisis, it's imperative to look for better ways to address the situation. Pulling from these sources are some solutions that could begin to tackle the homelessness crisis in California and the United States, including:

Integrating domestic violence support with homelessness support networks can help people find housing before turning towards the streets

Providing grants to have people avoid evictions, preventing homelessness in the first place

Increasing government funded affordable housing, the lack of which is especially prevalent in California

Joining non-profit organizations with government funded programs to best tackle the issue

Minimize police interactions with unhoused individuals in favor of trained social workers

Allocate funds away from policing for housing first programs

Treat the unhoused as people rather than obstacles

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This 2022 video by VICE News highlights a number of homeless encampments in the middle of the Mojave Desert just north of Los Angeles and Lancaster.

One resident, Gary, has lived out in the desert for over 9 years after being forced out of the city by the police or continue to be harassed by them. Other houseless people talked about how encampments destroyed and bulldozed within city limits.

In Lancaster, homelessness makes up 1% of the population but 25% of citations and are labeled as “criminals and thugs” by city officials. They're often cited for camping, loitering, and panhandling despite "their only crime is not having enough income to afford [a home].”

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Following the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, Southern elites, dissatisfied with losing their unpaid labor, were quick to create legislation that criminalized Black behavior under Jim Crow and vagrancy laws in order to maintain the antebellum racial hierarchy and cheap labor through the system of convict leasing (2, 18).

Used throughout the south, convict leasing allowed for prisons and jails to lease out their prisoners to private companies for work such as: mining, railroad construction, and plantation work. Approximately nine out of ten of these convicts were Black, revealing how white supremacist legislation was put into place in order to regain the lost labor of slavery while also acting as a form of racial control by preventing African Americans from pursuing economic and civil growth (2, 24).

The rise of Jim Crow laws affected Black populations by allowing for police discretion that directly targeted African Americans rather than all races which maintained the racial hierarchy and fed the prisons with more convicts to exploit for profit.

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The Hidden Homelessness Crisis In California (HBO)

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The Hidden Homelessness Crisis In California (HBO)

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This 2018 video by VICE News follows 46 year old homeless single mother, Danielle Williams, as she struggled to live out of her minivan in California.

Danielle was forced to downsize to her van after being laid off from her accounting job, returning to community college to finish her degree to find a new job. She denounces the negative image of homeless people consisting of drug users or laziness, as many work jobs.

The government doesn’t track homelessness as people living out of vehicles, but it’s estimated that they make 1/3rd or the homeless population in California. The video highlights the benefits and dangers of sleeping in a vehicle, as it can be difficult to find a safe spot to stay in without being harassed by strangers and the police. In response, Safe Parking, a California-based initiative, has emerged to provide safe places to park with lot monitors and porta-potties.

The video stresses that programs like Safe Parking are only temporary solutions, and much more is needed to address the larger problem of homelessness. According to a tweet in 2019, Danielle and her daughter are no longer houseless but remain strong advocates for better government funded programs.

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The Hidden Homelessness Crisis In California (HBO)

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"Hobos in Heaven" by Kelly Hernandez describes the harsh and exploitative methods used by the elites and city officials of Los Angeles between 1880 and 1910 to build their city through the imprisonment and forced labor of poor white men, Mexican immigrants, African Americans, and Indigenous people.

The text focuses on the imprisonment of lower-class white men who made up 90% of the Los Angeles prison population by 1880. Hobos and itinerant workers moved to the city during the winter after losing their seasonal jobs, before being deemed undesirable by the middle-class white families and city officials. The city invested in building the largest prison system in the nation and criminalized vagrancy and drunkenness to arrest these men, which was referred to as a "war on tramps."

The city's motive for engaging in such behavior was to prevent the spread of their condition and to provide a labor force for public and private projects. These men were mistreated exploited for their labor while in over-crowded prisons. By the outbreak of the First World War, the city shifted its attention to targeting Mexican immigrants and increasing efforts to keep the city segregated and control the Mexican population.

Overall, the text depicts how white American settlers developed a community of socio-economic exclusion through the prison system in California in order to build a racial paradise.

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It's remarkable to see how the lower-classes, minorities, and homelessness were targets of policing which helped build the carceral state as it is today through forced labor.

Policing in the 19th and 20th century is marked by vague language in laws that allow for the state to exert power unto those seen as troublesome, which often included the unhoused.

It's particularly startling to recognize that California was built on the exploitation of itinerant workers while being denied access to living a full and stable life.

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Issues of homelessness in California and the rest of the United States are ever-present as lawmakers and police officers continue to target those unhoused through unjust practices that only further perpetuate the problem rather than offer tangible solutions.