> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20021227/ts_usatoday/4734683 > > Homeless hurt on several fronts > Fri Dec 27,11:23 AM ET > John Ritter USA TODAY > > SAN FRANCISCO -- These holidays bring little comfort and joy to the nation's > homeless. > > > A sour economy makes it harder for poor Americans to find jobs, yet rents > and home prices that usually sag in a recession are rising in many places, > throwing more people onto the streets. > > > On top of that double whammy comes a crackdown on street people. Many cities > are passing tough laws against panhandling, loitering and sleeping in public > places. > > > Homeless advocates say assistance has not increased to meet the crisis. > > > Even in this city known for generosity to the downtrodden, tough love is the > new mantra. Voters last month approved slashing cash grants to the homeless > from $395 a month to $59 while beefing up mental health, substance abuse and > housing programs. > > > Dubbed ''Care Not Cash,'' the measure is supposed to treat the causes of > homelessness not its street symptoms. Supporters say it will erase San > Francisco's status as the free lunch capital by eliminating what lures > homeless people from across the country. > > > ''No one can find even the cheapest rundown motel in San Francisco for > $395,'' says Gavin Newsom, an elected supervisor who sponsored the measure. > ''No city in America spends more per capita on the homeless, but it's still > not enough to provide a roof over your head.'' > > > Attitudes toward the nation's estimated 3 million homeless have hardened, > advocates say. Downtown merchants think street people hurt business. > Tourists recoil at panhandling. The homeless are blamed for petty crime and > create resentment by sleeping in public parks and under freeway overpasses > and bridges. In a sample of 49 cities, the National Law Center on > Homelessness and Poverty found a 22% increase in the past three years in > prohibitions on loitering and a 14% increase in laws against sleeping in > public. > > > Sidewalk bans proliferating > > > In Orlando, a tourist destination like San Francisco, homeless people as of > September risk $500 fines and 60 days in jail for sitting or lying on > downtown sidewalks. The city also requires panhandlers to get licenses and > limits begging to special zones. Berkeley, Calif., and Seattle are among a > number of cities with new sidewalk bans this year similar to Orlando's. > > > This fall, Santa Monica, Calif., barred the homeless from camping in > downtown doorways and limited the free meals they get from charity groups. > Last month, Palmdale, Calif., approved misdemeanor citations for homeless > people who camp illegally. New Orleans removed all the benches from historic > Jackson Square to keep the homeless from sleeping there. > > > Advocates for the homeless in New York City have sued police over a sharp > spike in arrests of homeless people for infractions that they say would not > usually bring charges. In Los Angeles last month, police swept through skid > row and arrested 130 people just days after business groups complained about > the homeless. Police said they were searching for parole violators. > > > Police in Corpus Christi, Texas, gave homeless residents of a tent city > until the end of January to clear out or be removed. Dallas this year began > enforcing health code rules on charities' street feeding of the homeless. > Last spring, Las Vegas police forced 175 homeless people out of makeshift > homes as part of its mayor's pledge to clean up a garbage-strewn downtown > area. > > > Downtown Baltimore businesses persuaded the city last summer to crack down > on minor crimes; homeless advocates said the effort was aimed at street > people. Santa Cruz, Calif.; Lakeland, Fla.; and Asheville, N.C., are among a > growing list of cities to severely restrict panhandling. > > > El Cajon, Calif., is fighting in court to break up a homeless camp outside > an Episcopal church. The church claims a First Amendment right to shelter > the indigent. Sacramento twice tried a man for illegal camping -- at a cost > to taxpayers of up to $10,000 a day -- before winning a conviction. The man > was sentenced to 30 days on a work detail. > > > ''There's definitely a growing trend toward harsher treatment of the > homeless,'' says Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National > Coalition for the Homeless in Washington. ''But what's significant is we > found that none of the cities doing crackdowns had enough shelter space.'' > > > Last week, the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual 25-city homeless survey > found requests for emergency shelter up an average 19% in 18 cities > reporting increases, the steepest rise in a decade. Most of the cities > reported that the length of time people were homeless had increased. > > > As homeless numbers swell, so do fears that more will become crime victims. > Through October, 16 homeless people had died in violent crimes this year > compared with 18 in all of last year, the national coalition says. > > ''The term 'compassion fatigue' is used,'' Whitehead says. ''People have not > seen a significant reduction in the number of homeless people. They see > dollars being spent for emergency needs but not for systemic solutions.'' > > Housing is the gravest need, but the federal government's housing assistance > budget has declined 51% since 1976 while tax breaks for homeowners have > risen 312%, the National Low Income Housing Coalition says. Housing > advocates say there's a shortage of at least 5 million affordable rental > units nationwide. > > Suit filed to stop Care Not Cash > > In San Francisco, where the homeless issue has festered for years and cost > two mayors their jobs, no one's betting the latest fix will end the > political turmoil. Homeless advocates have sued to stop Care Not Cash from > taking effect in July. > > They doubt that the city will live up to the spirit of the measure and > provide sufficient housing. The city, like many others operating in the red, > faces a $200 million budget deficit. > > ''The only thing the city could possibly do with the money recouped by > deducting it from the poor is massive shelter programs,'' says Paul Boden, > director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco. ''But we think > 20 years of opening up more and more shelters is a failed approach.'' > > Supervisor Newsom says Care Not Cash is worded so that funds can't legally > be cut. He says the city is ready to take over leases of 1,000 single room > occupancy units and make them available to the homeless. > > San Francisco's homeless population is estimated at 10,000 to 12,000, but > only 2,800 single adults are eligible for monthly cash. Cutting those > benefits will free about $12 million a year to implement Care Not Cash. > > Nearly everyone expects homeless numbers to fall. When nearby Alameda County > cut benefits from $336 to $18 a few years ago, its homeless population > shrank from 2,000 to fewer than 200. Many simply moved across the bay to San > Francisco, officials say. > > Gavin believes the city, by doling out cash, is indirectly contributing to > drug addiction, overdose deaths and crimes against the homeless. ''Any > police officer will tell you there's an increase in crime . . . when people > are getting their checks,'' he says. > > Voters here seem weary of years of haggling over the homeless. A competing > ballot measure last month to water down Care Not Cash failed. The business > and tourist sectors have complained for years about aggressive panhandling, > public urination and squalid conditions in homeless encampments. > > San Francisco police routinely break up them up, and homeless advocates say > arrests for blocking sidewalks and sleeping in parks are up. The national > coalition rated San Francisco, along with Atlanta and New York, as the USA's > meanest cities if you're homeless. > > Leslie Edquist, a laborer from Helena, Mont., who has lived on San > Francisco's streets for three years, says police rousted him from his tent > recently, packed him off to jail and threw away his belongings. Since his > release he has scavenged a sleeping bag and a few other belongings from > trash cans in affluent neighborhoods. He lives in a crude shelter with a > tarp over it in a vacant lot near train tracks on the city's south side. He > stays mobile with two grocery carts and a bicycle. > > Edquist won't apply for the city's cash benefits because he says he's > capable of working. He survives on a few dollars from repairing old bikes. > He says he's been clean and sober for 11 years. > > ''This used to be the city of love,'' Edquist, 39, says. ''Now it's so > strict, it's got a big noose around it and the rope is really tight, and > they're jerking the heck out of the rope right now.'' > > >
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