Is Homelessness a Crime?

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"When first used in the United States in the 1870s," writes the National Academies Press (US), "the term 'homelessness' was meant to describe itinerant 'tramps' traversing the country in search of work. The primary emphasis at this time was on the loss of character and a perceived emerging moral crisis that threatened long-held ideas of home life, rather than on the lack of a permanent home." People never have liked the idea of vagrants sleeping outside for free, contributing little to nothing to the economy. They never liked the idea of trading family lives and values for one that is unproductive and against conventional ways.

How homelessness is treated like a crime

Even over 150 years after the term was coined, the world still views homelessness as something that needs to be solved rather than left alone, eliminated rather than accepted. Homelessness is treated like a crime. Society wants it gone. Bypassing and enforcing laws that allow law enforcement to directly target the behaviors and lifestyles of the homeless, governments aim to reduce homelessness by punishing individuals who are homeless. The idea is to deter people from going and remaining homeless.

The criminalization of homelessness

It is important to understand the nuances of the criminalization of homelessness to not be fooled by the deceptiveness of its legal classification. In law books, most countries have no direct legislation against not owning a house or a rental agreement in their name. Doing so would appear to be unfairly targeting homeless individuals. Many countries, like the US, for example, have laws against unfairly targeting members of a minority. Thus, openly targeting homeless people would be akin to doing so to that against Native Americans for practicing cultural traditions, or Buddhists for practicing traditions of the Buddhist. The way that homelessness is attacked, instead, is through means of indirect discourse. Homelessness is criminalized by passing and enforcing laws that target the many aspects of the homeless' daily lives.

The many laws that make homelessness illegal

Sleeping outside

The homeless, by definition, lack a home in which to sleep. Yet in many cities all across the world, sleeping outside is illegal. Cities, if not entire countries enforce anti-camping ordinances which make it illegal to sleep outdoors without permission. The chances of a homeless person obtaining permission for this are like a jewel thief obtaining permission from a jewelry store to rob it. For the homeless, sleeping anywhere outside is illegal.

The amount of possessions on a person in public

What's more, many cities have ordinances limiting the number of possessions allowed to be kept on one's person in public. In Los Angeles, for example, it is a crime to be in public spaces with possessions that exceed the amount that can fit into a 60-gallon container. This often means that the homeless can take their blankets, but not a week's worth of fresh clothing, or a tent, but not their other two blankets.

The crime of leaving possessions in public unattended

Furthermore, it is also a crime in many cities to leave possessions unattended in public for any duration of time. This means that any person caught leaving their possession somewhere like stashed behind a bush to go into the grocery store is guilty of a criminal act. When fined, these tickets often cannot be paid by the homeless, so they often end up in the legal system where the system designed them to go. Often, if released on probation, it will be a condition of their probation to maintain a job and a place that is "intended" for habitation.

All of this is an unfair attempt by society to eliminate the people who choose to live a life without a home.

Based on a True Story

In the middle of April 2022, Steve Jones, (whose name has been changed to protect his identity,) was stopped in Simi Valley, California in a park by a local park ranger. Steve was new to the area and so did not know of a good place to sleep for the homeless, so after being exhausted from walking around trying to find a place all night, he opted to veer off of the sidewalk and lay his head behind some bushes near a local fire department.

At approximately 1:30 a.m., the sprinklers came on. Steve awoke to a Cascade of water droplets landing upon his and his dog's face and jumped up quickly in a panic to save his blankets from getting soaked. It was too late. His blankets were sopping wet. And it was cold on this particular night, somewhere around 50°. Steve chose to walk for the rest of the night until the sun came up. It was too cold to stay in one spot with wet clothing.

At approximately 8:00 a.m, Steve arrived at a park in the area. The first thing he did was lay out his blankets in the grass to let the sun dry them. He and his dog then walked to the bathroom. On his way back, he found a park ranger taking pictures of his blankets. The ranger thought that he had slept in the park the night before and that his blankets laid out on the grass were evidence of this. The ranger was wrong, but nothing Steve could say could convince him of this.

"It became apparent," said Steve, "that the ranger wasn't going to be satisfied until he found something that could incriminate me. If he could do that, then presumably, he could issue a ticket and possibly expel me from local parks in the area."

But Steve was doing nothing wrong. He had been homeless for a couple of months or so and he knew he would never get away with sleeping in a park in California. The Ranger asked Steve to sit down on the ground and cross his legs while he interrogated him.

"Did I do something wrong?" Steve asked the Ranger.

"Yeah, you are being a nuisance," the Ranger asserted forcefully. "You got your blankets all laid out here in the park and we don't allow that here."

Steve, surprised, said, "Is there a law against laying your blankets out in the sun?"

"Well, it's against park rules," said the ranger. We have signs posted that you cannot use the park for what is not intended for. The park is not intended for that. Besides, we don't allow people to loiter here either."

"Really?" Steve said. "I thought that's what people come to the park to do."

"What? No," said the Ranger. "People come to the park to let their kids play on the playground or to throw a football around on the field or something. They don't come here all day to sit and wander because they have nowhere else to go. The members of this community pay taxes here and they want to keep this park nice. They don't want to see homeless people around causing problems and bothering them."

In the end, Steve was asked to leave and was issued a verbal warning. Steve had no idea where to go, so we spent most of the day walking, taking a 5-minute break here or there when he came across a city bus stop bench.

Was Steve treated differently because he was homeless?

The point of this story is yes. Steve was treated like a criminal when he was doing nothing wrong. He merely just needed a place to lay out his blankets to let them dry, and not even at the park would his society let him do that.

Is homelessness not a crime?

STOP THE HATE OF THE UNFORTUNATE.