the 13th juror

The high cost of poverty: Why the poor pay more

2012-01-08T11:40:00.002-05:00

You have to be rich to be poor.

That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.

Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain.

The Washington Post explains it here. Consider this a primer on the economics of poverty.

And check out John Scalzi's wrenching blog post, Being Poor.

Judge says tent city residents can stay -- for now

2012-01-06T12:16:00.003-05:00

A judge in New Jersey — saying the government has a responsibility to provide for the poor — refused to evict residents from a makeshift camp that township officials claim is a dangerous public nuisance.

Since 2006, from 25 to 70 homeless people have been living in the communal setting. Lakewood officials want the camp closed, and point to serious injuries suffered by a handful of its residents from exploding propane tanks and the harsh elements.

"This is pure and simple a seizure of property," said Michael DeCicco, an attorney for Lakewood. "The importance of this decision, this case, I cannot overemphasize because in my view a decision allowing homeless individuals to remain on this property indefinitely ... would eviscerate centuries of Anglo Saxon property law."

The Rev. Steve Brigham, who founded Tent City through his Lakewood Outreach Ministry Church, has refused to close the camp, claiming Lakewood and Ocean County do not provide adequate shelter for the homeless.

The county says it provides more than enough resources, all that it can afford, and contends some residents have refused the services offered.

But Jeffrey Wild, an attorney for the Tent City residents, says the county and township’s remedy — paying $100 a night for motel stays — is only a Band-Aid. He says the poor in Ocean County need a shelter and affordable housing. Read his legal brief here.

Judge Joseph Foster said he wanted to hold a hearing to decide whether Lakewood has legal grounds for removing the residents from the wooded area where they live. But Foster also said they could not stay there forever.

"What the parties will have to address here is the ultimate remedy," he told a crowd of more than 30 Tent City residents and supporters crammed into his courtroom.

Read the Newark Star-Ledger report here. And for more details on the court proceeding, check out the Homeless in Ocean County blog.

3 homeless men killed while sleeping

2012-01-04T00:13:00.002-05:00

Three homeless men have been stabbed to death in north Orange County, California, in recent weeks, raising alarm in homeless camps as police try to determine whether any single motive links the killings.

The men were all stabbed multiple times as they slept alone. Police posted bulletins at homeless shelters describing the killings as "remarkably similar," but said it was still too early to say whether anything more than the men's homelessness connected their deaths.

Homeless people said the killings have only underscored a rule of life on the streets. "Nobody here sleeps alone," said Sherissa Houston, 49, who lives around Anaheim's La Palma Park. "Nobody here stays alone. Always."

The body of the first victim was found on Dec. 21 at a shopping center in Placentia, not far from a park; he was identified as James McGillivray, 53. One week later, another body was found on the Santa Ana River Trail; he was identified as Lloyd Middaugh, 42.

The body of the third victim was found late Friday afternoon at the bottom of a stairwell behind the Yorba Linda library. He was identified as Paulus Cornelius Smit, 57. Candles still burned for him at a small memorial at the stairwell on Tuesday, next to a man's photo framed by the words, "Rest In Peace Dutch."

Police have declined to release a grainy surveillance video that shows a thin man dressed in black lying in wait and then stabbing McGillivray, the first victim.

Read the Orange County Register report here.

Vacant houses outnumber homeless people in U.S.

2012-01-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

There are more than five times as many vacant homes in the U.S. as there are homeless people, according to Amnesty International USA.

About 3.5 million people in the nation are homeless while, at the same time, 18.5 million vacant homes stand vacant.

Since 2007, banks have foreclosed around 8 million homes.

In boom-and-bust Metro Orlando, the number of vacant houses and apartments jumped by more than 80,000 during the past decade, according to U.S. census figures. The number of vacant homes in the four-county Orlando metropolitan area rose from 58,303 to 143,867.

On a typical night in metro Orlando, about 4,515 people are homeless, according to the 2011 Point-in-Time count.

Read Amnesty International's blog post here and the Orlando Sentinel's report here.

Gov. Scott to appeal order barring drug-testing for welfare recipients

2011-11-03T15:25:00.005-04:00

Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday that the state was appealing a preliminary injunction that stopped the drug testing of welfare applicants.

"It's disappointing – but not surprising -- that the governor has instructed his attorneys to continue defending the indefensible," said ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here. And see previous posts here, here and here.

Court orders Florida to suspend drug-testing law

2011-10-24T15:27:00.004-04:00

A federal court has ordered the state to temporarily suspend a law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before collecting cash assistance.

Read the ruling here.

See previous posts here and here.

Slum Jack is homeless no more!

2011-10-23T23:04:00.002-04:00

After more than three years of homelessness, Slum Jack has a place of his own.

He says this was a direct result of some friends helping him with stunning generosities. "My major benefactors have been persons that became friends with me while I was homeless, too," he said. "That seriously surprised me."

Read his post here.

Occupy Cincinnati claims trouble with homeless

2011-10-21T22:23:00.001-04:00

Hours before police arrested several of them, Occupy Cincinnati protesters said homeless people were taking over their space in Piatt Park.

Some protesters said there have been some thefts and in some cases violence, and they're worried that their message will also be stolen.

"We're not just a homeless camp," said Michael Davis, one of the original Occupy Cincinnati protesters.

He said things are getting out of control. "The homeless have overran us," Davis said. "They're taking stuff that is donated to us. They've been caught trying to sell it a few blocks away. We're running out of supplies. We really need what the homeless are taking."

Davis said sometimes in their meetings, the occupiers are outnumbered by homeless people. He said some have contributed to and even joined the occupation, but others aren't so helpful.

Read the WLWT report (with video) here.

Denver may pursue law cracking down on people sleeping downtown

2011-10-20T22:33:00.002-04:00

Some Denver City Council members want to make it illegal for people to sleep overnight in the main business sector.

"We have to stand up for our businesses downtown and our women and children who are afraid to go downtown," said Councilman Charlie Brown. "Are we supposed to just give in?"

Denver in 2005 passed laws to curtail panhandling, including one that prohibits beggars from sitting or lying down on sidewalks from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. No city ordinance prohibits sleeping overnight on sidewalks or in other public places that are not in city parks.

The number of homeless people crowding onto the 16th Street Mall is growing, say city officials, business owners and advocates for the homeless. Many homeless people stay there overnight because they can't find beds in shelters and the mall feels safe because it is lighted and populated, said Councilman Albus Brooks, whose district includes the mall.

"This is a nightmare," Brooks said. "Denver is very sympathetic to the homeless issue, especially during this fiscal time. But that's not the issue. We have predators, sex offenders, folks selling drugs and taking advantage of people and vagrants all pretending to be these homeless folks."

Brooks recently went to the mall at midnight to see the issue up close. He found about 180 people setting up to sleep overnight.

John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, called the effort to beef up laws "a real step backward" for the city, which has been working to end homelessness through its Road Home program.

"This is a direct result of the recession, of shelters being closed and lack of mental-health and treatment services that are needed for part of the population. It's not solving homelessness; it's just criminalizing it," Parvensky said. "If the business community is worried about making downtown a better environment for visitors, they ought to use a fraction of their money to build real solutions for the homeless."

Read the Denver Post report here.

Occupy Portland asks city to suspend enforcement of ordinances criminalizing homelessness

2011-10-19T18:22:00.003-04:00

The General Assembly of Occupy Portland has sent an open letter affirming its solidarity with the homeless people in the city. The letter asks that city ordinances currently used to criminalize homeless people be suspended until new solutions are found.

Read the whole letter in the street newspaper Street Roots here.

Tony died today

2011-10-18T23:12:00.000-04:00

Tony Clemens, who gained a following of readers over the last five years through the popular blog Homeless Man Speaks, was found dead in his black camping chair in Toronto’s Roncesvalles neighborhood. He was 63.

“He was able to remain genuinely cheerful … despite the worst of circumstances, and he infused other people with that cheerfulness,” said Philip Stern, the business consultant who befriended Clemens and created the blog nearly five years ago.

Read Philip's post here. And check out the wonderful story in the Toronto Star here.

Cop's son gets probation for punching homeless man

2011-10-04T09:08:00.003-04:00

A Sanford police lieutenant's son who was captured on video sucker-punching a homeless man outside a bar, knocking him out, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was placed on a year of probation.

Justin Collison, 22, of Sanford, had been charged with felony battery and disorderly conduct, but his family paid an undisclosed sum to the homeless man, Sherman Ware, and Ware asked prosecutors to drop the case.

They didn't. When court started Monday morning, Assistant State Attorney Russ Bausch insisted that Collison spend 30 days in jail in addition to a year on probation. Collison said no.

The two sides left that to Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, who came up with her own solution: She sentenced him to 30 days in jail then suspended that, saying he'd only be locked up if he fails to follow through on the conditions of probation.

Collison said little at the hearing but turned beet red when prosecutors played the video in open court.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here. And see previous posts here (with video), here and here.

Colorado Supreme Court declines to hear homeless camping case

2011-09-17T10:13:00.002-04:00

A Boulder attorney is vowing to continue his crusade against the city's anti-camping law even after the Colorado Supreme Court refused to hear a case alleging the ordinance is unconstitutional.

In a split decision, the high court justices announced that they would not take up the case of David Madison vs. City of Boulder.

The decision means that Madison -- a homeless man in Boulder who was convicted of camping without a permit after police found him sleeping in a sleeping bag on Nov. 24, 2009 -- likely will have to pay a fine of $50 or perform five hours of community service.

But beyond the single case, the decision also essentially upholds Boulder's law that forbids sleeping overnight on public property.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," said David Harrison, one of Madison's attorneys, who helped appeal the case along with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The appeal was based on the theory that Boulder's anti-camping law violates state and federal constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishments, contravenes due process guarantees and infringes on the constitutionally protected right to travel.

Read the Boulder Daily Camera report here.

Rancher who helps homeless may lose control of his property

2011-09-16T11:54:00.007-04:00

A rancher who has long been at odds with the county over housing homeless people is on the brink of losing custodianship of his property because he hasn’t complied with county codes, say lawyers for San Luis Obispo County.

But Dan De Vaul, who operates who operates a nonprofit sober living program called Sunny Acres, contends that he has met terms of a court order that includes moving tenants out of illegal buildings and supplying safe drinking water on his 72-acre ranch.

The county is expected to ask a judge to appoint a receiver who would oversee the progress of De Vaul’s compliance while forcing him to foot the bill of cleaning up his property.

"The extent to which the county will lie to try to do me in is astonishing,”
De Vaul said outside of court. “They’re flat out making things up because I don’t bow down to them.”

Read the San Luis Obispo Tribune report here. And see previous post (“I’m proud to go to jail for housing the homeless”) here.

Chaotic lives underlie troubles of homeless

2011-09-14T09:43:00.002-04:00

A strong link between sleeping rough and other "chaotic life experiences" was found in a new study of Britain's homeless people called Understanding Complex Lives.

Nearly half of those surveyed had spent time in institutions, had drug or alcohol dependency or had been involved in "street activities" such as begging, prostitution or shoplifting. Almost two in five have attempted suicide.

Theresa McDonagh, the report's author, said the two-year study of 1,286 homeless people highlights the need for workers in health, housing and social services to collaborate more effectively to prevent clients winding up on the streets.

"Homelessness comes quite late in the day in the story of their lives getting more and more difficult," she said. "Usually they'll have had lots of low-level contacts with different agencies, but still fall through the cracks."

Read The Independent article here. And read the entire report here.

Registering the poor to vote is "like handing out burglary tools to criminals"

2011-09-12T08:08:00.000-04:00

Stone Soup Station calls out a very un-American argument to disenfranchise "the poor" in a blog called the "American Thinker." Read the post here.

St. Pete mayor to Tampa: Deal with your own homeless

2011-09-09T09:09:00.002-04:00

St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster has a message for Tampa: Don't depend on St. Petersburg to deal with your homeless — especially during next year's Republican Convention.

The warning came during a City Council meeting, when police officials described a slight increase in homeless people from Hillsborough County seeking services in Pinellas, such as bus tickets or shelter space at Pinellas Safe Harbor.

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

Welfare drug testing challenged in federal court

2011-09-08T08:15:00.003-04:00

A state law that requires poor Floridians to pass a drug test before receiving cash welfare assistance -- a key tenet of Gov. Rick Scott's campaign -- is now being challenged in federal court.

The lawsuit, from a Navy veteran in Orlando and the ACLU of Florida, acknowledges that the state can drug test in specific instances, such as when there are public safety issues or in cases affecting certain public school children.

But a blanket law ordering tests for all adults who apply for cash help amounts to "unreasonable and suspicionless searches" and violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, according to the lawsuit.

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here. And see previous posts here and here.

Yes, there are hungry people in Orlando

2011-09-03T10:01:00.004-04:00

One in three Orlando* households with children did not have enough money to buy needed food at times in the last 12 months.

The Orlando metro area's 33.9% rate of food hardship in households with children is the second-highest in the nation. Only Winston-Salem had a higher rate.

Five of the metro areas with the highest rates of food hardship were in Florida, the most of any state. The others in the top 25 are: Lakeland-Winter Haven, 33.0% in third place; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, 29.4%; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, 27.7%; and Jacksonville, 27.6%.

Read the report, "Food Hardship in America 2010," by the Food Research and Action Center here.
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* The numbers are for the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area. MSAs are Census Bureau-defined areas that include central cities plus the surrounding counties with strong economic and social ties to the central cities.

St. Pete ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to tell lies on their cardboard signs

2011-09-02T12:01:00.003-04:00

St. Petersburg is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising -- on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not.

"Most of the people who fly the cards say they're homeless or veterans, but most aren't veterans or homeless," said Robert Marbut, the city's consultant on homelessness. "But they are making a lot of tax-free money."

But the proposal raises many questions: How would the police check the accuracy of those claims? Can the city really regulate what people write on signs? And after the city's successful crackdown on the homeless and panhandling population, who's left to break the new law?

Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger already sees a flaw in the law: a homeless person could incriminate himself just by answering an officer's questions. The Fifth Amendment protects against that.

"It's the criminalization of homelessness," Dillinger said. "And in this case since it's a criminal offense, you don't have to answer.

"You prove that I'm not homeless. You prove that I'm not a veteran."

If any of these cases ever go to court, the area's top public defender added: "I'll try some of those myself."

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

By the way, this is already illegal in Orlando. Section 43.86(4) of the City Code prohibits "false or misleading" panhandling, including saying that you're homeless, when you're is not.

Update: Well, never mind. The proposed ordinance has been withdrawn. Assistant city attorney Mark Winn believed a recently passed state law banned aggressive panhandling, but that legislation died in committee.

"I was mistaken," Winn said. "There is no state legislation on this, so there is no need for us to be addressing this issue at this time."

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

Added to the blog roll

2011-08-28T18:30:00.002-04:00

Stories from the Streets isn't really a new blog but caught my attention the other day with a post called "Anxiety and a Lost Loved One."

"Arresting someone who does not have the money to pay their fines does not solve the major problems"

2011-08-25T07:33:00.002-04:00

As the summer heat continues to beat down, the police in Jackson, Tennessee, are doing what they can to provide assistance to people who are most susceptible to the elements, as a new division works to build lasting partnerships.

The Homeless Outreach Team, or HOT division, pairs police officers with crisis intervention training with members of the community and organizations who have a heart for the homeless.

"Usually, we deal with criminal matters and complaints, but arresting someone who does not have the money to make bail or pay their fines does not solve the major problems," said Capt. Thom Corley. "By offering outreach to these men and women now, we are taking preventative actions against things they might be inclined to do later. Not to mention these people are our citizens, too."

Corley said the inspiration for the outreach team stemmed from a conference he attended where members of the Colorado Springs Police Department talked about how their outreach efforts helped to reduce the homeless population from 700 to 75.

Read the Jackson Sun report here.

Welfare drug-testing yields 2% positive results

2011-08-24T21:37:00.003-04:00

Since Florida began testing welfare applicants for drugs in July, about 2% have tested positive, preliminary data shows.

Ninety-six percent proved to be drug free -- leaving the state on the hook to reimburse the cost of their tests.

The law, which took effect July 1, requires applicants to pay for their own drug tests. Those who test drug-free are reimbursed by the state, and those who fail cannot receive benefits for a year.

At least 1,000 welfare applicants took the drug tests through mid-August, according to the Department of Children and Families, which expects at least 1,500 applicants to take the tests monthly.

Cost of the tests averages about $30. Assuming that 1,000 to 1,500 applicants take the test every month, the state will owe about $28,800 to $43,200 monthly in reimbursements to those who test drug-free.

That compares with roughly $32,200 to $48,200 the state may save on one month's worth of rejected applicants.

More than once, Gov. Rick Scott has said publicly that people on welfare use drugs at a higher rate than the general population. The 2% test fail rate, however, does not bear that out.

According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, performed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, 8.7% of the population nationally over age 12 uses illicit drugs.

Read the Tampa Tribune report here. And see previous post here.

Homeless win a voice

2011-08-24T10:02:00.002-04:00

They asked, and they received.

Homeless or formerly homeless people won two seats on the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County during a gospel-music-inspired meeting at a small church in downtown Winston-Salem.

The Homeless Council, which helps distribute federal grant money to local agencies that deal with the homeless, includes representatives from nonprofit and government organizations.

David Harold, executive director of the council, promised that homeless or formerly homeless people would have two voting seats on the council, adding that he would pay those representatives a small stipend for their work. The two members will be chosen within a few weeks.

"For a long time, we have wanted this; we just didn't know how to make it happen," Harold said. "Homeless people and people who have recently been homeless know much better what works than people like me."

Read the Winston-Salem Journal report here.

Teen sentenced to 40 years for stabbing homeless man

2011-08-20T09:34:00.001-04:00

Family stories about a promising musician and even a plea from the man he stabbed were not enough to ease the penalty against a Jacksonville teen behind a senseless knife attack.

Eric Francis Sandefur, 18, was setenced to 40 years in prison — the maximum allowed under a plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to knifing Jason James Jerome, a 29-year-old homeless man, on the streets of Mandarin in December.

Sandefur confessed he stalked Jerome for 30 minutes as he slept on a picnic table. The two had never met before Sandefur tried to kill him. Grainy surveillance video shows Sandefur, wearing a suit and tie and gripping a knife, walking toward Jerome, with a blanket wrapped around himself.

Jerome said he has forgiven Sandefur, who cried during others’ testimony, and asked the judge for mercy. He doesn’t deserve prison time, but rehabilitation. “I walked away from our encounter with my life and my faith in tact,” Jerome said.

Read the Florida Times-Union report here.

Gainesville votes to end meal limit

2011-08-19T09:57:00.000-04:00

The campaign to end Gainesville's soup-kitchen meal limit scored a major victory when the City Commission voted unanimously to repeal the controversial code in favor of a three-hour window in which anyone can eat.

St. Francis House, the only institution regulated under the limit, filed a petition earlier this year to lift the 130-meal cap and replace it with a three-hour time frame.

The time limit was a point of contention for some advocates, but most felt it was a good compromise.

The city attorney's office will now draft an ordinance that the commission will have to approve in two more votes. Then St. Francis House will have to apply for a permit under the newly adopted ordinance.

Kent Vann, the shelter's executive director, said he would submit his application with the city next week so it can move ahead as soon as the commission casts its final vote.

Read the Gainesville Sun report here.

Miami government building installs spikes to ward off the homeless

2011-08-17T10:08:00.002-04:00

In the courtyard of downtown Miami's Stephen P. Clark Government Center, there's a big, dry fountain where homeless folks sit and hang out.

But county workers recently cordoned off the thing with yellow plastic while they outfit the perimeter — traditionally the seating surface — of the fountain with metal rods.

County spokesperson Suzy Trutie denies that the "renovation" has anything to do with the homeless. "What it's about," she insists, "is constantly updating and refurbishing all of our buildings."

"Yeah, but they look something like spikes," writes the Miami New Times. "And they feel a lot like spikes. Yes, we tried to sit on them. They hurt our butt."

Read the New Times report here.

Democratic Party leaders ask Orlando mayor to stop arresting homeless activists

2011-08-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

The Orange County Democratic Executive Committee wants the region’s top Democrat to stop arresting anti-poverty activists who feed the homeless.

The Orange County party’s officers passed a resolution calling on Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to stop enforcing a controversial ordinance that’s led to the arrest of nearly 30 people who handed out food to the homeless at Lake Eola Park.

“Whereas, the passage of this ordinance and its enforcement involving arrests may reflect badly on Orlando, internationally. Moreover, adverse publicity about these arrests may significantly hurt the economy and reputation of the City Beautiful,” the resolution reads, in part. “Whereas, as Democrats, we stand firm in our belief in anti-poverty policies and expect our elected officials to do the same.”

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

Oh, yes, we still have a long way to go

2011-08-15T21:35:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Steve over at Stone Soup Station for pointing this out.

Gainesville’s vote on meal limit set for this week

2011-08-14T08:37:00.002-04:00

Mayor Craig Lowe has put the proposal to do away with the 130-meals-per-day limit on soup kitchens on the agenda for the Aug. 18 meeting, as he said he would last month.

Advocates for the homeless (and for the proposal) believe there are enough votes to overturn the limit and replace it with a three-hour window in which meals can be served, as laid out in the code changes proposed by St. Francis House.

Read the Gainesville Sun report here.

No breakfast for the homeless in Tampa

2011-08-13T18:47:00.003-04:00

As the sun rose over downtown Tampa, dozens of homeless gathered in a city parking lot and waited for breakfast.

But for the first Saturday in six years, volunteers had nothing to offer but bad news. Tampa police shut down the meal program last week, saying the group doesn't have a permit to serve food on public property.

"It's crappy, really crappy, coming here and telling these people that 'we can't feed you because someone who hasn't missed a meal in a lot of years says we can't feed you,'" said Doris Lutkus, part of the loosely organized group of church volunteers who have spent each Saturday morning aiding the homeless.

Tampa police Officer Ron McMullen stopped by the parking lot to say the city doesn't want to keep people from feeding the homeless -- it just can't be done on public property.

McMullen said the shutdown is a result of complaints from people in the area who say the homeless who gather to eat end up aggressively panhandling.

Read the Tampa Tribune report here. And see previous post here.

Tampa tells group to stop feeding homeless downtown

2011-08-12T11:11:00.005-04:00

For the past six years, a loosely organized group of church volunteers has been feeding homeless people on Saturday mornings from a city-owned parking lot downtown. In recent years, the numbers of mouths to feed has grown, to more than 150 men and women, but they've never had issues and the city has always looked the other way.

Until now.

Last weekend, Tampa police shut down the meal, politely telling them that the activity is illegal and they need a permit to serve food on public property.

"They're trying to sweep these people under the rug," said Doris Lutkus, who has been volunteering for the past four years. "It's unconscionable."

Lutkus said she began calling city departments this week, trying to figure out what the regulations are and how they can get a permit. She said she got the "proverbial runaround."

"They passed me around like an old shoe, from one office to the next," she said. "No one could tell me what law we were breaking, just that we were not allowed to be there."

Santiago Corrada, Mayor Bob Buckhorn's chief of staff, said there is a whole host of state and local regulations for activities where food is served to large groups on city-owned property.

"If they've been doing this for years without permits, somewhere along the line we might have dropped the ball," he said. "There are all kinds or requirements on public feeding."

Read the Tampa Tribune report here.

Getting homeless man off streets is no easy task

2011-08-11T09:38:00.000-04:00

A newspaper columnist thought he had helped get a homeless man off the streets. Then he saw him again, trudging along a sidewalk.

Mark Howard, a 59-year-old who once held down a six-figure salary as a digital design weapons systems engineer before his life unraveled 16 years ago, got some help -- a shower, a haircut and clothes -- but he just didn't want to stay at a board-and-care facility.

Read Doug Krikorian's column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram here.

'Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well'

2011-08-10T10:20:00.004-04:00

The sentences of five Michigan residents who were locked up by judges because they were too poor to pay their misdemeanor tickets are being challenged by the ACLU of Michigan.

In each case, the ACLU said, the judges failed to give the defendants the option of paying their fines in installments or being sentenced to perform community service.

“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” Michigan ACLU director Kary Moss said in announcing the legal challenges. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources.”

Read the Detroit Free Press report here. And read more about each of the defendants and see the motions fled by the ACLU here.

Related: Barbara Ehrenrich asks "Since When Is It a Crime to Be Poor?"

Bet you didn't know ...

2011-08-07T12:10:00.002-04:00

Now that the USA is no longer in the club, all 13 countries* with an AAA credit rating have universal health care.
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* Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.

Nursing home dumps disabled veteran at homeless shelter

2011-08-04T10:18:00.002-04:00

A Tallahassee nursing home dropped off Robert MacDonnell at a homeless shelter with two plastic trash bags filled with his few belongings, a sack lunch and a month’s worth of medications.

In a manila envelope was a comb, a pocket calendar and a brief note, instructing MacDonnell on the complicated schedule of when and how much to take of 15 different medications and, if his insulin levels spiked, when to go to the emergency room. The telephone number for Brynwood Center was nowhere on the paperwork.

“My mind is completely blown that in America, a veteran would be treated like this,” said his twin sister Rosemary Rousch. “He is a combat veteran, not a sack of potatoes.”

MacDonnell suffered brain damage following a diabetes-induced coma in February.

Brynwood Center Administrator Lisa McGinley said the nursing home followed procedures and was authorized by an order from the Department of Children and Families to discharge MacDonnell.

“We always make certain all discharges are in compliance with regulatory requirements,” McGinley said. “That happened in this case.”

Rousch said the nursing home wanted MacDonnell discharged for lack of payment, an issue she says should have been resolved last month when her brother was finally approved for Medicaid.

“I’m absolutely certain if I wasn’t in the picture this would be a death sentence for him,” Rousch said. “He fell through every crack there was.”

Read the Tallahassee Democrat report here.

Reporter wins journalism award but remains homeless

2011-07-29T09:22:00.006-04:00

Reporter Jose Espinosa stands outside of the homeless shelter where he currently lives, holding the article that garnered him an international journalism award.

The story of famed boxer Matthew Saad Muhammed's journey from an orphanage to light heavyweight champion of the world to living in a homeless shelter won an international journalism award for another resident of the same Philadelphia shelter.

Jose Espinosa's story, "Fighting Back," was published in Philadelphia's street newspaper, One Step Away, and won an award from the International Network of Street Papers.

Weeks after the story broke, Muhammed received job offers and financial assistance. He moved out of the shelter where Espinosa remains.

Read the Newsworks report here.

Homeless campers settle federal lawsuit

2011-07-27T08:39:00.001-04:00

Six homeless campers whose possessions were tossed out by crews clearing property have settled a federal lawsuit against Oregon’s Department of Transportation.

The state transportation agency also agreed to stricter procedures for handling possessions taken from homeless camps in rights of way. Under the rewritten rules, ODOT and other agencies must post adequate information about where campers can retrieve their belongings once they are taken in a campsite sweep.

“It was clear that we had not followed our own procedures in cleaning up the sites,” said Patrick Cooney, ODOT spokesman. “We worked with the Oregon Law Center to develop a new process and the ways we’re going to do this in the future.”

Under the settlement, $10,000 will be given to plaintiffs Joel Tucker, Steven Fletcher, Jeff Nelson, Robert Dean Thomas, Chandra Waulters and Mitchal Poncel and $14,000 pays attorney’s fees.

Read the Portland Tribune report here.

Lunch organizer: Don't want trouble, just want to help the homeless

2011-07-26T08:27:00.004-04:00

Before serving a meal to the homeless, Margaret Luger bowed her head in prayer, saying she didn’t want to cause trouble; she just wants to help.

Luger and others were back at Overton Park in Lubbuck, Texas, a week after city health inspectors informed them they couldn’t feed the homeless because they didn’t prepare the homemade food in an approved kitchen.

So this time, they brought food purchased directly from the store, not requiring any preparation, including boxes of pizza, watermelon and containers of cake.

It was more expensive, Luger said, but she assured the homeless she wouldn’t give up trying to help them.

City Councilman Todd Klein also attended the lunch as a private citizen to show his support for the Lugers. Klein said he thought the city’s health department warning to the Lugers was “over-reaching,” but said he would propose an amendment to the ordinance if that’s what it took to make sure everything was clear.

He believes the picnic lunch for the homeless falls into the category of communal and charitable in nature. “You just don’t need the government interference (in that),” Klein said.

Read the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal report here. And see previous post here.

County park could become tent city

2011-07-25T08:16:00.005-04:00

An isolated county park in Mims could become the future site of a "tent city" to house some of Brevard County's homeless population.

Brevard County Commission Chairman Robin Fisher and advocates for the homeless are pushing a plan to convert a section of Hatbill Park in Mims into a tent city for people without a permanent place to live, in a plan modeled after Pinellas Hope.

The renewed push to find a legal alternative to homeless people illegally camping on private property was triggered by a recent Titusville Police Department initiative to clear out homeless camps in the city in advance of the last shuttle launch.

Read the Florida Today report here. And see previous post here.

Live from the streets of Denver

2011-07-24T08:52:00.003-04:00

A homeless street musician in Denver is getting hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube and his album of cover tunes is rising high on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts.

David Dred Scott moved to Denver 16 years ago for the music scene. He does what he loves full time but income from the streets is inconsistent.

"I've come out here, set up, played, broke a string, made a dollar and left. I've come out here and played and made $300," he said.

Tyler Ward stumbled onto his talent one day walking down the street and with the help of an outreach group, they recorded his music. Scott's talent generated almost $2,000 in the first two days.

It may not be enough to get him completely off the streets but it's a start.

Scott's album of cover tunes, "Live From 16th Street Mall," sells for $3.99 on iTunes.

Proceeds are used to buy food and clothing for Scott, but he does not get cash directly.

Police ordering homeless off church property

2011-07-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

Panama City police say they didn't know about the homeless camp until a few days ago. But from the setups and well worn trails through the property, it seems apparent it’s not a new development and an estimated 25 to 35 people live there. The sites have places to eat with tables and chairs, places to sleep with bedding inside tents and under tarps, and places to cook with fire pits and barbecue grills.

When police officers first learned of the site, they walked through and told the people there they planned to contact property owners to find out if they wanted those staying there to be asked to move, said Sgt. Jeff Becker.

The location is comprised of land held by several property owners, but the largest piece, about 12 acres, is owned by the First United Methodist Church. Church representatives, who could not be reached for comment, told police officers they didn’t want the homeless living there, Becker said.

Read the Panama City News-Herald report here.

The 10 most ridiculous anti-homeless laws

2011-07-20T20:51:00.002-04:00

Over at the Bring America Home Blog, the folks at the National Coalition for the Homeless are counting down their choices for the ten most ridiculous anti-homeless laws/actions.

Sarasota gets two spots in the second five: Number 8 for its smoking ban and Number 6 for its removal of benches.

Number 10 is many more cities across America (including Orlando) are installing converted parking meters to collect donations for homeless service organizations.

The top five will be announced next week. The list is a preview of NCH's upcoming report on the criminalization of homelessness. The report also will rank the nation’s ten “meanest” cities.

Read the post here.

Anybody want to bet against Orlando's "large-group feeding" ordinance making the top five?

Homeless man's protest irritates mayor

2011-07-20T12:50:00.009-04:00

John Martin was camped out in front of City Hall, but then has moved across the street. Martin is protesting Mayor Dan Sullivan's policy of clearing homeless camps in Anchorage.

Peeved by his inability to stop a homeless man's sit-down protest downtown, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan wants a law that would punish anyone who sits or reclines on a downtown sidewalk.

The idea of a new law came up, said city attorney Dennis Wheeler, because the administration wanted to remove John Martin, who says he is protesting the mayor's treatment of homeless people -- particularly, the city's decision to take and destroy some homeless people's possessions during the course of clearing out illegal camps on public property around town.

"We got calls and complaints about this guy sitting and camping on the sidewalk," said Wheeler. "So we looked at our code and we didn't have anything that specifically addressed sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk."

The city was able to get a judge to rule that Martin had violated a prior court order that he not camp on municipal property, and to order him off the City Hall block.

Read the Anchorage Daily News report here.

Update: Martin has been arrested for being an out-of-compliance sex offender. Read the Anchorage Daily News report here.

Citing city code, city asks group to stop serving meals to homeless

2011-07-19T09:53:00.005-04:00

A group of people were told their trek to Overton Park in Lubbock, Texas,
to serve homemade meals to the homeless violated city codes.

They had finished serving the meals when two city officials informed the group of its violation.

Muddying the water is the exception given to places of worship under the ordinance. Churches can serve food without a permit in a non-approved kitchen to their congregations, but once they extend the invitation to the general public, they must have a permit and an approved kitchen.

But when is a group of people a congregation?

The group, which is not an official ministry of a church, hands out Bibles and prays before the meal.

“If you want to get technical,” offered Chad Wheeler, a pastor with Carpenter’s Church who joined the group at the park, “Jesus says that whenever two or more are gathered in my name, I am with them. I would say this is as much a church service as any place.”

Read the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal report here.

If St. Pete's homeless aren't on the streets, where are they?

2011-07-18T08:04:00.004-04:00

Park benches in downtown St. Petersburg were mostly empty as city police began enforcing the new sleeping ban.

Williams Park was practically devoid of the street people downtown has battled for so long. As St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and city police begin enforcing a recent ban on public sleeping, it appears word spread early enough to make folks leave on their own.

City officials say most of the homeless people are now in shelters, such as the new Pinellas Safe Harbor facility near the county jail.

But some on the street say they're simply scattered in darker corners.

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

Homeless given ultimatums by St. Pete police

2011-07-14T09:23:00.002-04:00

Quietly and with little fanfare, St. Petersburg has taken its next step in dealing with its homeless population.

Police have begun telling the homeless that if there is available bed space at one of two shelters, they have to go there -- or go to jail.

One of the shelters is Safe Harbor, the new homeless shelter in Clearwater; the other is the St. Petersburg shelter run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

A new courtyard with 100 spots has opened outside Safe Harbor, which is run by the Pinellas Sheriff's Office. That brings the total occupancy to 470.

So there is plenty of space for the police department to start enforcing an ordinance that prohibits the homeless from sleeping on any right of way, including the sidewalk, if there is an available bed at a shelter. If there weren't any beds available at either of the two shelters, they couldn't enforce it.

The courtyard is reserved for the more problematic homeless, a sheriff's spokesman said. There are rubber mats underneath mattresses, picnic tables and portable toilets. Huge canopies protect the homeless in the courtyard from the rain.

The idea is that once the more disruptive start behaving, they can land a spot inside, where they get a bunk bed, regular meals, and shower facilities.

Read the Tampa Tribune report here.

Homelessness is no excuse for sex offenders not registering, court says

2011-07-12T08:17:00.004-04:00

Convicted sex offenders cannot use homelessness as an excuse for not reporting their whereabouts to police, a divided Michigan Supreme Court has ruled.

Homelessness "in no way prevents (an) offender from physically entering a law enforcement agency and truthfully reporting ... information regarding the offender's residence," the court found. Its four Republican members signed the majority opinion.

The three Democratic justices dissented, saying the majority's opinion "defies" common sense.

A park bench, highway underpass or steam grate may qualify as a place where a homeless individual sleeps, but they hardly qualify as a 'regular place of lodging' under the statute," Justice Marilyn Kelly wrote for the minority.

Randall Dowdy, who served 18 years in prison for kidnapping and rape, was charged in 2006 with failing to report his whereabouts after he was told he could no longer go to a Lansing shelter because he was a convicted sex offender. While living on the streets, he was charged with violating the Sex Offender Registration Act for not telling police where he was living.

Read the Detroit Free Press report here.

Homeless paper sues wealthy, suburban city

2011-07-11T08:03:00.003-04:00

Street newspaper The Contributor has sued the city of Brentwood, Tennessee, claiming that an effort to clear newspaper vendors off its streets deprives them of free speech.

The Contributor, staffed mainly by the homeless and formerly homeless, and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court over Brentwood citing and fining eight of the newspaper’s street vendors.

In January, Calvin Hart, Andrew Harrington and several other vendors were cited after distributing the paper in Brentwood, which has caused other vendors of the newspaper to stay away from selling in the wealthy, suburban city, the suit states. Hart and Harrington also are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Read The Tennessean report here.

Homeless told they can stay in city council building

2011-07-10T11:38:00.002-04:00

The homeless of a city in the Philippines were told not to look too far for shelter and stay at a building that houses the city council while in search of a place to stay.

“If you don’t have a house, go live in the city council building,” said Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, at a rally of some 2,000 people expressing support for Mayor Sara Duterte.

She is being investigated for her involvement in a scuffle with a court sheriff who was enforcing an order to demolish a slum community. The demolition was turning ugly when angry residents put up a fight, some firing slingshots and home-made arrows. One policeman was hit in the buttock by an arrow.

Rodrigo Duterte said the assault by his daughter on the sheriff simply showed “this government is for the helpless and the defenseless.”

The people of Davao, including the business sector, also found Sara’s controversial action justifiable. “What Inday (Sara Duterte) showed was the highest form of governance,” said Sebastian Angliongto, business representative who came to the rally.

Read the Philippine Daily Inquirer report here.

The uplifting tale of a man, his pet rabbit and a new hero for our time

2011-07-09T12:36:00.005-04:00

"Barney and Lilly my dog are my babies," said John Byrne. "I'd do the whole thing again if it happened. If the person that threw Barney in can do that to an animal, think of what he could do to children."

A homeless man who dived into a Dublin river to save his drowning pet rabbit said he would do it all over again.

John Byrne, 38, jumped off a bridge after a man came up behind him, grabbed his beloved pet rabbit Barney and threw it into the river.

Around 200 people watched as he struggled to save his pet from being swept away, dramatically clinging onto a nearby ledge. After spending 40 minutes waiting to be rescued by emergency services, he revived Barney by giving him the kiss of life.

An 18-year-old man was charged with cruelty to animals as well as being abusive to gardai (police) at the scene.

Read the Herald.ie reports here and here. But the best read is a column by Ian O'Doherty.

Two more arrests -- and a new strategy

2011-07-07T19:34:00.003-04:00

Two more activists affiliated with Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested yesterday at Lake Eola Park, bringing the total to 27.

But the city tried a new approach, issuing trespass warnings immediately after the two began hauling dishware and food into the park. OPD Officer Rich Ruth said it was obvious that they “intended” to violate the large-group feeding ordinance.

Then they were cuffed quickly after the food-sharing began, rather than plainclothes police waiting to affirm that they fed 25 individuals.

Read the Orlando Weekly report here.

Pensacola priest cancels protest of Orlando’s homeless-feeding rule

2011-07-07T16:09:00.003-04:00

Father Nathan Monk has decided to cancel his trip to Orlando to protest the arrests of people feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

He doesn't say why he changed his mind. He does says it was a "heart-wrenching decision" and that, since he announced his protest, "there have been numerous changes to the equation."

Read Father Nathan's Facebook post here. And see previous post here.

National Lawyers Guild urges Orlando to repeal ordinance restricting food sharing

2011-07-03T07:55:00.005-04:00

The National Lawyers Guild calls on the City of Orlando to repeal its ordinance limiting groups feeding more than 25 people in parks to two permitted events a year. The Guild also urges Fort Lauderdale and other Florida municipalities to refrain from adopting similar ordinances.

“By applying the label ‘terrorist’* to people trying to feed the hungry, Mayor Dyer distorts what Food Not Bombs is doing in an attempt to demonize its members. Invoking the term ‘terrorist’ affords the government wide latitude to spy on activists, to improperly subpoena them, and to threaten increased penalties for their humanitarian endeavors. Such mislabeling imperils all of our First Amendment rights,” says NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian.

Read the complete statement here.
---------------
* In June, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called FNB members “food terrorists,” accusing them of having “different purposes” than helping the homeless. See previous post here.

Homeless man found dead in 2008 identified by DNA

2011-07-02T13:28:00.008-04:00

Three years after a homeless man found skeletal remains in the woods, a DNA match has identified the body.

The dead man is 34-year-old Matthew Christopher Wood. Originally a Georgia resident, Wood was homeless in 2008.

On June 24, 2008, another homeless man, David Worley, was looking for cans when he found Wood's remains on a trail leading to several camps. The remains had been there for about six weeks.

The St. Johns County Medical Examiner's office could not determine a cause of death at the time because the remains were too badly decomposed. DNA evidence was submitted for a profile comparison, which recently returned the match.

Even though there were "no signs of foul play" in Wood's death, investigators want to be certain, said a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. "Now that we have an identity, what we want to do is go back in time. There could be people who know him out there. Did he have enemies? Did he just disappear before we found him?"

If you know anything about Wood, contact the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office at 904-824-8304.

Read the St. Augustine Record report here.

Homeless raid in Titusville questioned

2011-07-02T12:28:00.004-04:00

Titusville Mayor Jim Tulley assured advocates for homeless veterans that he will try to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding the recent clearing out of 11 homeless camps on private property throughout the city.

He said he has heard conflicting reports from the homeless advocates and police about the removal and disposal of personal items the homeless people had in the camps.

Separately, National Veterans Homeless Support founder and President George Taylor Sr. said he plans to seek changes from the Titusville City Council to ease the restrictions on people camping and panhandling within city limits.

Read the Florida Today report here. And see previous post here.

Update on food-sharing in Orlando: hackers and court hearings

2011-07-02T09:48:00.000-04:00

Computer hackers continued their assault on Orlando websites on Friday, attempting to disrupt the site for Orlando International Airport going into a busy travel weekend.

The hacker group Anonymous and its allies claimed to briefly disable the official airport website, but airport officials said there was never a disruption.

Meanwhile, the founder of Food Not Bombs, Keith McHenry, remains jailed after being arrested June 22. McHenry, who lives in New Mexico but came to Orlando to protest the city ordinance, was first arrested after helping distribute food, then arrested again for entering the park in defiance of a trespass warning. County Judge Kenneth Barlow rejected a plea deal, citing the fact that McHenry had violated the terms of his release from his first arrest.

In another courtroom, Food Not Bombs and the city sparred over the group's request for an injunction to stop police from arresting FNB members. Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez has not yet issued a ruling.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

Homeless man arrested for charging cell phone

2011-06-30T19:14:00.004-04:00

Police have brought charges against a homeless man in Maine who helped himself to an outdoor electrical outlet to charge a pair of cellphones.

A Bangor police officer checking downtown businesses discovered 23-year-old Shaun Fawster charging his cellphones in an outlet hidden behind some flowers.

Fawster was charged with theft of services.

Read the Bangor Daily News report here.

Update: The Penobscot County District Attorney’s office has dismissed charges against Fawster. Read the Bangor Daily News report here.

Pensacola priest to protest Orlando’s homeless-feeding rule

2011-06-30T11:25:00.003-04:00

An Orthodox priest from Pensacola is coming to Orlando to lead a demonstration in support of a group that has faced legal trouble for feeding the homeless in Orlando’s Lake Eola Park.

“The criminalization of public service to the poor is to criminalize poverty itself,” said the Rev. Nathan Monk. “The continued efforts of the City of Orlando to prevent distribution of food to the poor is a violation of the constitution at its highest form. To prevent one human from reaching out to help another human in need is contrary to the decency we have all been taught from our youth.”

Monk, of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, has scheduled the protest for Saturday, July 9, at 4 p.m. at Lake Eola Park. He also plans to distribute a hot meal of bread loaves and fish to the people present.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

Two more arrests

2011-06-29T22:39:00.003-04:00

Two more arrests at tonight's food-sharing by Orlando Food Not Bombs at Lake Eola Park. Total is now 25.

Police shut down 11 homeless camps

2011-06-29T10:54:00.000-04:00

Police have cleared out 11 homeless camps throughout Titusville in a push to remove people who are trespassing on private property.

Titusville Police Department and fire officials say the camps are a safety hazard, and a growing problem in the city, partly resulting from the increased unemployment.

Locations where the property owners didn't want the homeless camps removed were not disturbed, said Police Lt. Jeff King. People who lived in the homeless camps that were targeted received warning of trespassing before the camps were cleared, he said.

Read the Florida Today report here.

Of course, just clearing out camps doesn't solve the problem. There should have been some effort to connect the camp residents to housing and other needed services.

Resurgence of America’s debtor prisons

2011-06-26T10:43:00.000-04:00

More than a third of all US states allow borrowers of money who find themselves unable to repay their debts in harsh economic times to be jailed.

That's not really news (especially to readers of this blog), but I found it interesting that it was reported by Russian media.

Read the RT report here.

Advocates for homeless disrupt Rhode Island legislature

2011-06-24T14:49:00.002-04:00

Advocates for the homeless disrupted the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Thursday to protest what they called devastating cuts to an affordable housing program.

Six people were escorted from the House chamber by Statehouse police after they refused to leave. The incident followed a protest by nearly 200 people in the Statehouse rotunda.

"We respect the law," said Jim Ryczek, director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless and one of the six ejected protesters. "But when social justice demands that someone break the rules ... we're willing to stand up for the rights and the needs of homeless people."

Read the Boston Globe report here and the Providence Phoenix report here.

Homeless advocates rebuke Sarasota leaders

2011-06-21T06:07:00.001-04:00

A recent onslaught of city policies designed to drive the homeless from downtown has come to a head in Sarasota, with dozens of local activists chiding officials for what they called blatant discrimination against the city's poorest residents.

"Frankly, I'm ashamed that this agenda has focused so much on the elite, the rich and the powerful and punishing the poor and the powerless," said Richard Martin, director of the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness. "This is an evening about restricting human rights."

Monday's agenda — which among other things included a measure to outlaw "peddlers and solicitors" from panhandling near the city's new parking meters — drew fiery and divisive debate between wealthy downtown condo owners and homeless advocates.

Read the Sarasota Herald-Tribune report here.

Judge gives hard-luck mom a free pass

2011-06-19T10:06:00.006-04:00

A Broward County judge gave a penniless mother a priceless gift this week: freedom.

Angel Smith, 41, had been arrested for leaving her two children in a hot car for two hours while she gave blood to earn money to feed them.

She was paid around $30 for giving blood, but when she left the center, cops were waiting.

A security guard at the blood donation clinic saw the children -- ages 4 and 7 -- alone in the car and called police, who arrested Smith on child neglect charges. The children had been left unattended for about two hours and were not harmed.

But Judge John Hurley said that life had given the desperate mother enough hard times.

She had $28 in the bank, was living out of a hotel and had just been laid off.

"I realize it's difficult for you, I'm not trying to be hard on you. I knew when I read this (affidavit), life is not easy for you," Hurley said before choking up and nearly crying on the bench. "I don't look at you as a criminal, all right, but at the same token, ma'am, you can't leave your children in the car, that length of time, unattended."

Smith was released from jail with no bond, but her charges currently still stand.

Read the South Florida Sun-Sentinel report here.

6 more "food terrorists" arrested at Lake Eola

2011-06-15T22:21:00.005-04:00

Six more "food terrorists" were arrested tonight at Lake Eola Park.

At least, that's what I read on Facebook. No details as yet; no news reports.

The total number arrested is now 21.

Update: Here's the Orlando Weekly report. Note the headline: "Six more arrested at Food Not Bombs sharing, 21 in two weeks, media yawns."

St. Pete plans crackdown on the homeless

2011-06-14T09:50:00.003-04:00

By month's end, St. Petersburg will begin enforcing a ordinance that bans sleeping or reclining on public sidewalks, and will take violators to jail or to Pinellas Safe Harbor.

Mayor Bill Foster said he has seen fewer homeless people downtown after he announced the crackdown.

Stricter enforcement is part of a broader tactical approach that Robert Marbut, a city consultant, calls "the velvet hammer." The premise is that until some of the homeless are forced by ordinance to leave city streets and parks for the confines of a shelter, they won't. Until some of the groups and agencies that organize public feedings are forced to stop, they won't. Absent tougher enforcement, the homeless population will persist.

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

HUD surprised homeless population isn't higher

2011-06-14T09:18:00.000-04:00

The total number of people seeking shelter last year grew by more than 2%, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD assistant secretary Mercedes Marquez says it's surprising the numbers didn't go even higher. She credits a $1.5 billion program in the economic stimulus bill for helping hundreds of thousands of people avoid homelessness or quickly find new homes, with things such as rent subsidies.

Listen to the NPR story here.

3 more arrested at Lake Eola food-sharing

2011-06-13T12:06:00.003-04:00

Orlando police have arrested three more activists who violated the city's restrictions on sharing food with the homeless at Lake Eola Park.

The arrests included a Gainesville man who came to Orlando to be arrested as a way of protesting the city's controversial law.

Pat Fitzpatrick, 61, was arrested along with two local members of the group Orlando Food Not Bombs, Ashley Albinson, 24, and Palmer Harrell, 22. The three had just finished distributing pancakes, grits and potatoes to more than 35 people, most of them regulars at the twice-weekly food-sharings by Food Not Bombs.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here and the Orlando Weekly report here.

A city loses patience and considers stricter rules for the homeless

2011-06-13T09:21:00.004-04:00

A blue-ribbon committee on the homeless in Modesto, California, is talking about stricter rules for people living on the streets and the charities that help them.

The ideas include restrictions on feeding programs, using safety officers to patrol city parks and advising the public not to give money to panhandlers. The panel members also favor outreach programs focusing more resources on temporary and permanent housing for homeless people who want to change their lives.

These days, Modesto seems divided between people whose focus is helping the homeless and those who've lost patience with problems of loitering or public drunkenness. The panel seems to be talking about proposals more appealing to people in the second camp.

The committee could recommend that the city limit outdoor food programs to a single park, although it hasn't reached a consensus. City officials believe that food donations in parks contribute to loitering, litter and sanitation problems.

Community activist Robert Stanford said it seemed to be a ploy to move the homeless from downtown and he doubted the legality of such a restriction. "I don't understand how you could pass a law making it illegal to feed a hungry person," he said.*

Read the Modesto Bee report here.
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* Maybe he should talk to somebody in Orlando.

Cleanup of homeless camps begins

2011-06-12T09:11:00.007-04:00

Anchorage Parks and Recreation's Community Work Service Program disposes of items left behind after sweep of homeless camps.

The outlaw campers left behind dirty blankets and a picture album. Beer cans and a Bible. All collected in growing piles along a wooded area east of downtown Anchorage by workers tasked with cleaning up and closing down some of the city's more notorious illegal campsites.

Officers looking to displace homeless squatters from parks and greenbelts had come through the makeshift campgrounds about two weeks earlier posting notices: Time to move.

The police sweep follows a legal battle over just how aggressive the city can be when it comes to closing what police call illegal campsites. A 2009 city law allowed police to toss out campers and throw away their belongings with as little as 12 hours notice. But a lawsuit brought by the ACLU argued that the short time frame violated individual property rights.

A judge struck down the law, and the Assembly in April approved new rules that say police must give the illegal campers 15 days to clear out, or as few as three if the city stores their stuff.

Read the Anchorage Daily News report here.

St. Augustine found a collaborative solution to the homeless feeding issue

2011-06-11T09:30:00.001-04:00

Contrast what's going on in Orlando with St. Augustine's approach. A year ago, after seeing Orlando Food not Bombs' appeal fail, groups serving food to homeless and hungry people in the Plaza de Constitucion asked for and got a meeting with City Manager John Regan to avoid the legal expense, fear and confusion for our area's hungry.

This quickly ramped up to a partnership with Home Again St Johns, the county, the city, various agencies, St. Francis House, Second Harvest Food Bank, numerous restaurants, many churches, and the United Way to generate healthy dinners shared with our neighbors, seven nights a week, in a clean and dignified place, with tables and chairs.

Read the letter from Mary Lawrence, the co-founder of PUSH (People United to Stop Homelessness), here.

Homeless activist and lawyer jailed for six months for Sleeping Protest

2011-06-10T09:41:00.004-04:00

Two men arrested during a lengthy homeless protest last year on the steps of Santa Cruz County Superior Court and City Hall have been sentenced to six months in county jail.

Homeless activist and attorney Ed Frey, 69, and Gary Johnson, 47, were "remanded into custody" directly from the courtroom.

The case began July 4, 2010, in what activists called Peace Camp 2010. Initially, a group of more than 50 began sleeping and holding signs and more on the courthouse steps. It lasted roughly three months, before sheriff's deputies began warning, ticketing and arresting protestors under a criminal misdemeanor law for unlawful lodging and the protest died.

The judge offered a sentence of community service and probation plus an agreement they don't camp at the courthouse. But the two men declined. Johnson said he could not abide by the probation directive to "abide by all laws," asking "How can I take probation to obey all laws, when you've defined 'sleeping' as lodging to the jury, making it a misdemeanor crime? How can I not sleep for six months during probation?"

Because the law targets sleeping in public for those who don't have a home, Frey had challenged its essence on constitutional, human rights and other grounds.

Read the San Jose Mercury News report here. For a lot more detail, check out Becky Johnson's post at One Woman Talking here.

Stabbing death of homeless man caught on video

2011-06-10T08:11:00.000-04:00

The stabbing death of Paul Anthony Bowlin was captured on video by a Winston-Salem business.

The video shows Bowlin, 44, walking casually in front of the business. A man in a striped shirt runs up behind him. The victim turns at the last minute and holds his arms out to the side, in a manner as if he's asking something like "What's the matter?"

The atacker has a knife or some sharp object in his right hand. He doesn't break stride as he approaches the other man, punching him with his left hand, then making an uppercut motion with his right hand as the victim reels backward.

That's where the clip ends, as the two men reach a part of the parking lot that slopes down toward a creek. Bowlin's body was discovered by passers-by just before 6 a.m. at the bottom of the parking lot.

Derrick Bernard Watson, 40, has been charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. He is being held in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed.

Red the Winston-Salem Journal report here.

Police arrest 5 more activists for feeding homeless

2011-06-08T20:42:00.003-04:00

Orlando police arrested five more activists from behind a makeshift buffet table at Lake Eola Park on Wednesday evening, bringing to a dozen the number charged in the past week with violating city restrictions on feeding the homeless.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here and the Orlando Weekly report here.

Breaking bread and breaking the law -- isn't it time both sides talked about feeding the homeless?

2011-06-08T08:36:00.000-04:00

"This silly and costly war has gone on long enough," writes Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell. "After five years, it's time for a compromise."

So on Tuesday, I tried to play the part of peacemaker.

It wasn't easy. I knew I was in trouble the first time Buddy Dyer used the phrase "food terrorists."

Read the column here.

It simply wasn't enough of a priority for legislators to pass

2011-05-21T17:10:00.000-04:00

Among the failures of the recently ended Florida legislative session was a provision that would have waived the cost of drivers licenses for the impoverished — something other states such as Michigan have done to help people get back to work.

The cost would've been minuscule — a fraction of a percent of the money set aside for businesses incentives. Yet the need is great.

Most of us can't appreciate the ramifications of not having proper ID. But the problem is severe -- we're talking 400 people lined up at 6 a.m. when IDignity holds an ID day. Seeking help are homeless veterans who have been mugged, battered women who lost all their possessions and proud fathers trying to make new lives for their family.

Read Scott Maxwell's column in the Orlando Sentinel here.

And please think about donating your time -- or money -- to IDignity.

Volunteers envision resource center for Orlando's homeless

2011-05-20T21:27:00.002-04:00

A group of loosely organized but devout volunteers is trying to succeed in doing what a decade of government officials, task forces and regional commissions have not -- creating a downtown Orlando drop-in center for the homeless.

The collaboration, which doesn't yet have a name, includes several local faith-based groups that have been sharing food and spiritual encouragement with the homeless at Lake Eola Park. Their effort was spawned in large part by the city's anti-feeding law, which sharply restricts food-sharing events of more than 25 people in downtown parks. Last month, a federal appeals court ruled that the law is constitutional.

"I still am bothered by the ruling, and I still feel the city is trying to hide the problem of homelessness," said P.J. Charles, executive director of Straight Street Orlando, a Christian ministry that helps the homeless. "But, ultimately, we're not in this to be political. We just want to help people."

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

High court hears arguments in Providence’s eviction of homeless

2011-05-11T08:15:00.000-04:00

Tent cities that have sprung up around the country have become a symbol of the problem of homelessness. Sometimes, shelters become too crowded to accommodate everyone. Sometimes, the homeless decide that shelters are unsafe, that they’d do better to band together and find a place outdoors to reside.

Two volunteer lawyers representing homeless people who, for a time during 2009, lived in a city park in Providence, Rhode Island, urged the state Supreme Court to vacate a preliminary injunction issued by a lower court judge.

They argued that the city used the wrong legal vehicle to try to eject the homeless group.

Read the Providence Journal report here.

Making mischief with Food Not Bombs

2011-05-08T13:16:00.002-04:00

Orlando Food Not Bombs gets a mention at Common Dreams. Read about it here.

Welfare drug test bill lands on Florida governor's desk

2011-05-06T09:46:00.003-04:00

Applying for welfare benefits in Florida? Soon you’ll need to get drug tested.

A measure requiring the tests has passed the Senate and is headed to Gov. Rick Scott, who is likely to sign the bill. He first floated the idea before he even took office and has also authorized random drug testing of state employees.

HB 353 requires all adult recipients of federal cash benefits — the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program — to pay for the tests, which are typically around $35. The screen would be for all controlled substances and applicants would have to disclose any legal prescriptions.

Recipients who test positive for drugs would lose their benefits for a year. If they fail a second time, they lose the benefits for three years. Parents who test positive must designate another adult to receive benefits on behalf of their children.

Read the Miami Herald report here.

It just doesn't seem right to test people and cut off benefits at the same time that the state is reducing the treatment services available.

And then there's the troubling fact that Scott owns a mega-chain of walk-in clinics that do, among other things, drug testing. He proudly claims that he divested his interest in the company when he got elected -- by transferring all his shares to his wife.

Finally, it's likely unconstitutional. Michigan tried it a few years ago, and its testing program was struck down as unconstitutional in a case called Marchwinski v. Howard.

3 homeless camps will be closed in aftermath of murder

2011-05-04T13:03:00.001-04:00

St. Louis city leaders plan to close three tent villages on the Mississippi riverfront by this summer after a homeless photographer was arrested on allegations of stabbing and killing a fellow camp resident.

Robert Allen Boettcher, 50, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Prosecutors say he got into a fight with Adrian Henderson, 36, and stabbed him multiple times with a knife.

City Hall officials said it was just the most recent spat in the dirt roads, tarp-covered tents and plywood shacks a few dozen feet from the river.

The city's intent is to find permanent housing — not emergency shelters — for every camp resident, said Bill Siedhoff, the city's director of human services. His department has been working for at least two months to put together a plan to do that.

Boettcher made a name for himself in the homeless community by advocating for squatters' rights, blogging at Hopeville and taking photos of the camps and riverfront scenes.

Read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report here.

Homeless campers sue to block state from destroying their belongings

2011-05-01T11:38:00.002-04:00

Six homeless people are suing Oregon’s Department of Transportation, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and up to 50 unidentified county and state employees in federal court for what they say were violations of their Fourth Amendment constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

The lawsuit targets ODOT’s sweeps of camps and the plaintiffs want a federal judge to force the agency to follow its own rules on preserving personal property found at campsites. The plaintiffs are also seeking an injunction against the state and county to block public employees from taking personal property from campsites without adequate notice and without posting information about how to retrieve the items.

The plaintiffs -- Joel Tucker, Steven Fletcher, Jeff Nelson, Robert Dean Thomas, Chanda Waulters and Mitchal Poncel -- lost personal items they said were taken during sweeps and then either lost or destroyed. The items included bicycles, sleeping bags, boots, transit passes, medication and ID cards and birth certificates.

Read the Portland Tribune report here.

Homeless woman pleads not guilty to stealing son's education

2011-04-27T14:59:00.010-04:00

Moments before going into court, Tanya McDowell appeared before a phalanx of cameras and reporters in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The homeless woman accused of stealing more than $15,000 from Norwalk taxpayers for sending her 5-year-old son to a city elementary school has pleaded not guilty.

Tanya McDowell, 33, is facing up to 20 years in jail on first-degree larceny and conspiracy charges. The case was continued until May 11.

Defense attorney Darnell Crosland said McDowell was undeniably homeless when she enrolled her son at the school and he should have been allowed to remain there, according to federal law.

Read the Stamford Advocate report here. And see previous post here.

"Into the system I go"

2011-04-27T13:39:00.002-04:00

A guy in Boston has just started blogging about his day to day experiences as he goes through the system. Newly homeless, he's wondering "how the f*** did it come to this?"

Check out Homeless in Boston.

Orange County didn't get votes to push out homeless

2011-04-27T09:50:00.003-04:00

Commissioners in Orange County are trying to get homeless people out of wooded areas surrounding neighborhoods.

Some county leaders wanted to give deputies the power to clean the homeless out of the woods, but they didn't have the necessary votes. A majority said they had no interest in “criminalizing homelessness,” as Commissioner Lui Damiani described it.

Commissioner Ted Edwards wrote a letter to Mayor Teresa Jacobs asking her to add additional, specific language to a current no-camping ordinance. Edwards wanted Orange County to adopt laws similar to the city of Orlando where it’s illegal to camp on public or private land without permission.

“You would have individuals walking through you yards, pilfering things, petty crimes,” Edwards said.

But commissioners expressed worry that enforcement would bog down deputies. Sheriff Jerry Demings spoke out, saying “The camping ordinance in Orlando is no silver bullet for dealing with homelessness.”

Some social service advocates also opposed to the idea, including United Way President and CEO Bob Brown, who said it was not a “realistic or feasible” way to deal with the problem of homelessness. Read Bob Brown's letter here.

Read the WDBO report here and the Orlando Sentinel report here.

Ending homelessness is cost-effective

2011-04-26T07:05:00.002-04:00

The cost of homelessness is high.

Taxpayers in Hennepin County (that's Minneapolis) spent $4.2 million on 266 people and got no results. These people used more than 70,000 nights in a combination of jail, shelter and detox over five years and were still in those places.

With a modest private investment, the strategy shifted. Instead of allowing these individuals to cycle through the system, the goal became to provide housing and services.

Nearly 70 of the top 100 most frequent users of these systems are now in housing. After one full year in housing, taxpayer costs associated with each person were reduced by an average of $13,000 per year.

Read more in this post by Cathy ten Broeke, the project coordinator for the Office to End Homelessness in Minneapolis and Hennepin County.

How Ben Franklin escaped poverty -- and how his sister couldn't

2011-04-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

The lives of Benjamin Franklin and his younger sister tell an 18th-century tale of two Americas. Against poverty and ignorance, Benny Franklin prevailed; his sister Jenny did not.

Their father was a Boston candle-maker, scraping by. Massachusetts’ Poor Law required teaching boys to write; the mandate for girls ended at reading. Benny went to school for just two years; Jenny never went at all.

But their story is a reminder that, especially for women, escaping poverty has always depended on the opportunity for an education and the ability to control the size of their families.

Read more in The New York Times here.

Cops arrest man in connection with homeless slaying

2011-04-23T10:15:00.004-04:00

Orlando police have arrested a man in connection with the March slaying of a homeless man.

Wayne "Turnpike" Spencer, 46, is accused of killing Richard "Richie Rich" Lynch in late March.

Lynch's body was found March 24 in woods off John Young Parkway near Colonial Drive, in an area where many homeless people have camps.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here. And see previous post here.

Cops bust homeless woman for sending child to school

2011-04-17T20:40:00.002-04:00

A homeless woman has been arrested for enrolling her 6-year-old son at a Norwalk elementary school.

Tonya McDowell, 33, is accused of stealing $15,000 -- the cost of her son's public education -- from the Norwalk School District.

McDowell, whose last known address is in Bridgeport, used the Norwalk address of the boy's babysitter to register him at the school.

The babysitter was evicted from her public housing apartment.

Read the Stamford Advocate report here.

Thanks to @hardlynormal for the link.

Another take on the court ruling

2011-04-15T13:17:00.004-04:00

Moral Low Ground takes a look at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Orlando may restrict groups handing out free food to homeless people in city parks.

The post points out that in San Francisco, local authorities -- described as "a decidedly more progressive bunch" -- allow Food Not Bombs to do its valuable work unmolested.

"The wise men and women who run San Francisco realized that there is no higher priority than feeding the hungry, and today Food Not Bombs is a respected institution that serves meals to the city’s needy five nights a week.

Here’s hoping that one day soon they’ll be able to do the same thing in Orlando."

Check out the post here.

So far, the post has been shared by 109 people.

Statewide crackdown on panhandling proposed in Florida Legislature

2011-04-08T15:40:00.002-04:00

Tampa City Council members have struggled to agree on a solution for the city's panhandling problem.

So Republican Sen. Jack Latvala has one for them — and the rest of the state.

Latvala, who represents parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, is behind SB 1180, a sprawling Senate Transportation Committee bill that imposes blanket restrictions on roadside solicitations for the state.

His solution for getting it under control: requiring anyone who wants to accept money from the road to register with local government.

Read the St. Petersburg Times report here.

Homelessness: A crisis we can no longer afford to ignore

2011-04-06T12:40:00.001-04:00

"With so many Americans in need, it is not the time to cut proven and cost effect solutions to end homelessness," writes Rep. Alcee Hastings, who is the founding co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness.

Read the rest of his comments on The Hill's Congress Blog here.

Poverty linked to anxiety and mood disorders

2011-04-05T15:42:00.001-04:00

People with low incomes are more likely to suffer mental illness, a new study suggests.

It also found that a decrease in income is associated with increased risk of anxiety, substance abuse and mood disorders.

"Most important, the findings suggest that income below $20,000 per year is associated with substantial psychopathologic characteristics and that there is a need for targeted interventions to treat and prevent mental illness in this low-income sector of the population," the researchers concluded. "The findings also suggest that adults with reduction in income are at increased risk of mood and substance use disorders."

Read the US News and World Report article here.

Bruce Springsteen writes: "Story on poverty, aid cuts gives voice to voiceless"

2011-04-02T11:12:00.001-04:00

Bruce Springsteen, for decades the voice of the working man, wrote a letter to the editor of his local paper, the Asbury Park Press, expressing his displeasure at "cuts in services to those in the most dire conditions."

The Boss was responding to a story, titled “As poverty rises in NJ, cuts target aid,” that focused on the cuts being made to government services as poverty rises in New Jersey.

Springsteen expressed his gratitude for the article, writing that it “is one of the few that highlights the contradictions between a policy of large tax cuts, on the one hand, and cuts in services to those in the most dire conditions, on the other.”

Rick Scott slashes support for the disabled

2011-03-31T11:02:00.001-04:00

Gov. Rick Scott has slashed payments for group homes and case workers who help people with severe mental and physical disabilities to address a ballooning agency deficit, a move advocates said will be devastating for care.

The announcement came the same day Scott ran with Special Olympians and law-enforcement officers in the annual Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run. He praised the athletes for their dedication in a short post-run ceremony at the Capitol courtyard.

Scott's emergency order to cut payments to providers by 15% is aimed at covering a $170-million shortfall at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. Advocates for about 35,000 disabled patients said the cut in payments through June 30 would cause some care centers to close their doors.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

Escambia County's panhandling ordinance challenged as unconstitutional

2011-03-29T10:30:00.004-04:00

Does Escambia County's controversial panhandling ordinance unconstitutionally prohibit free speech?

The ACLU of Northwest Florida is helping to represent Mark Brune, 49, a homeless man who was arrested Feb. 1 on a charge of violating the ordinance.

The ordinance prohibits soliciting and panhandling under certain circumstances, including after sunset and before sunrise, at bus stops, within 20 feet of ATMs and bank entrances or from a driver in traffic. It does not ban someone from holding a sign that asks for money as long the person does not make a request to a specific person.

Brune was arrested when an Escambia County deputy saw him step from the median to get money from a motorist. He was holding a sign that read: “Stranded Broke Hungry Please Help God Bless.”

"Escambia County's ordinance is a clear case of government explicitly banning a particular kind of expression," attorney Benjamin Stevenson said. "The First Amendment prohibits exactly this kind of government restriction to our rights. Holding a sign in public is free speech, not a crime."

Read the Pensacola News-Journal report here.

Church suspends minister for defying order to close homeless shelter

2011-03-28T21:10:00.005-04:00

A church has suspended its minister 15 months after he defied orders to close a homeless shelter.

Rev. Hedley Fihaki from the Cairns Emmanuel Uniting Church in Australia has been suspended for three months.

But members from his congregation called the suspension a “bully move” by the Brisbane head office who disciplined him for challenging directives and helping the homeless by delaying the eviction.

In December 2009, the church was told to eject the homeless from the Good Samaritan Ministry Centre due to fire safety and building compliance concerns. Just weeks before Christmas, the 26 people staying at the shelter faced being left with nowhere to go.

Dr. Fihaki defied the deadlines for eviction until new accommodation was found at a motel and a promise made for negotiations to reopen the facility.

But the old shelter remains vacant and now the minister of more than five years is being punished for his stand.

Read the Cairns Post report here.

Thanks to @homelesslaw for the link.

Activists still fight to eliminate meal limit for Gainesville homeless

2011-03-28T16:40:00.004-04:00

The Independent Florida Alligator takes a look at the dispute over the legal number of meals Gainesville soup kitchens can give out every day. It's a long-running disagreement in which supporters have drawn lines in concrete, where city commissioners are called uncaring and a soup kitchen owner is seen as irresponsible and victimized, depending on who you talk to.

St. Francis House, at the center of the dispute, is asking for a change to a three-hour time limit instead of the current 130-meal limit.

Read the Alligator article here.

City considers homeless exclusion zone

2011-03-28T09:41:00.002-04:00

A downtown exclusion zone is being considered in Ashland, Oregon, as an alternative to the growing list of citations and thousands of dollars in unpaid fines accumulated by the city’s homeless population.

The police are frustrated that repeat citations for nuisance violations like urinating in public and sleeping on private property are ignored by the homeless.

Police Chief Terry Holderness said some homeless people who do find jobs must pay off thousands of dollars in fines from their paychecks before they collect any money, possibly contributing to long-term homelessness. "We’re creating an impediment to people changing their lives,” he said.

An exclusion zone would ban people with multiple violations from downtown, and allow police to arrest them for criminal trespassing if they return. The zones are already in effect in parts of Portland, Eugene and McMinnville.

“If we catch you downtown, the first time you’ll be taken to Medford and probably released,” Holderness said. “The second time, you might spend two days in jail. The next time, it could be a week or two in jail. There would very clearly be a negative consequence for repeat offenders.”

People who are arrested for criminal trespassing can be jailed for up to six months and fined $2,000, although that would probably happen only to a repeat offender, Holderness said.

The newspaper spoke with at least three men who said they were homeless and living in Ashland, but the men refused to give their names. They said the city’s downtown belongs to the public, and creating an exclusion zone would be unfair.

Read the Bend Bulletin report here.