Tennessee made homeless camps a felony. Colorado is trying something else.

By Adam Edelman | JUNE 12, 2022 | Tennessee made homeless

Tennessee’s Heavy Handed Tactics Ruins Lives

As if being homeless, or shelter challenged isn’t enough, now you can get a free pass to the big leagues, school of harder knocks, state prison, for what, being homeless(metatag)

Introduction

Encampments on public grounds, now the people there can be jailed as felons for up to six years, for camping due to a lack of shelters beds

No talk of solutions or answers or how to fix and end the problem or help the people, just the removal of the camps

This law goes into effect while they are attempting to convince people that homeless numbers are down overall, no facts to support

How can we accept that homeless people without hep, beds, intervention or compassion deserve to become felons

Let’s look at His word as get started today

Job 31: 16 to 20

“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,
    and the fatherless has not eaten of it
¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless^[b] grew up with me as with a father,
    and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[c]),
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
    or the needy without covering,
²⁰ if his body has not blessed me,^[d]
    and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep

What Say You…

Knock, knock, wake up no sleep allowed, knock, knock time to go to prison, knock, knock who’s there, a felony record  

Illegals, the unchecked at the borders are invited, wined and dined and given all, the tire, the dirty and the unhoused, lonely, old and aged as well as the young are chased and moved allowed no rest

Stop, You are Being Arrested….

Empathy and concern or are is it always their fault that they have become homeless? Two very different camps of thought regarding the homeless and how to move forward.  Encampments are eye sores and tough to be near, but how to remove them without harsh punishments.

Is the legal system and a felony record really the course of action that will help set that person or family back on their feet or on to that road of long-term perpetual failure?

When you attach penalties and jail to being homeless without solutions, the one that that will occur is that the homeless will go deeper underground, further from any help. They will make that decision to protect themselves from jail and humans alike

They are Trying to Prevent this, But Really….

A quick question to think on, encampment are ugly and maybe even dangerous, but is it right to punish residents of the encampments when they have no other place to go to live or dwell? No one is working on supportive housing or alternative housing, and the shelters have not recovered from the Pandemic, what are the answer, besides jail?

This new law that is beyond the pale in matters regarding criminalizing the homeless does far more damage than good. Yes, it may remove the homeless person, but it never helps that homeless one recover their life.  It can’t because it has made them a felon.

By the way, what do they do with the families trapped in the encampments, are the families broken up, are they separated so mom and dad can be sent to prison? Which I believe could be the birthing of generational homelessness. Throwing the baby out with the bath water

This person goes to prison for being homeless, they come out with a felony record, no voting rights, hard to get employment, housing is tough, federal aid programs are restricted, homeless is perpetuated and they have a far greater chance of returning to prison because they could no connect with resources once released

The Strictest Ban on Camping in the United States

“They want to use that system to deter the behavior of camping, which they feel is negative behavior, but the root cause is that people need somewhere to sleep at night, and you can’t deter that behavior,” he said.”

They are saying that there is supposed to be a system in place to deter camping, but no one will admit it is broken and ineffective.  And a person trying to work and save money cannot afford rents in the post pandemic world.

Shelters are gone and bed availability is cut in half, and none are coming back, and no new ones are being built, and yet the number keep climbing, the system is busted and no one will admit it.  And when shelters or pantries do not fit in with their community, they are made to close their doors

So where are the hundreds of people supposed to sleep at night? You cannot tell them to stay awake simply because the economy has been mishandled and they have had their future robbed form them or is that actually the message, they pay for the economy and its mishandling?

This is the End Result of Inflation and Job Loss

Economy of 2008, the bubble burst and lives were thrown into turmoil and billions of wealth and income were lost in a blink of an eye.  The recovery never happened for many.  Then many unethical dealings came forward in an attempt to repair and restore, failed.  The result, unaffordable housing, and inflation

Boomers caught in the turmoil of nearing the end of work life not as strongly stable due to previous recessions, now struggling as never before, looking for post-retirement work and than bang, Pandemic showed up and leveled everything for nearly a year

Washington Dc released bad decision after bad decision and the economy continued to lean into inflation and the dollar lost its value and the middle income and low income families began to suffer and struggle

And indebtedness was encouraged a good way of life and living and building your credit until it was not , then life hit back hard. Now homelessness and poverty are surging and social security and disability cannot cover the basic needs of monthly needs, so how can we criminalize what the government helped to foster into existence?

The Desired Outcome for Any Who is Homeless

Report after report states that low/medium to low-income housing unit available to what is actually needed is critically low, about 15 available for every 100 people who are looking, from previous reports that is down about   to  houses on average

Now, there are building projects going on all over the place, but they are not for the normal income folks, no, it is called, “NIMBY” syndrome and it has a powerful impact on where and if affordable housing gets built, Not In My Backyard!

However, would it not be better to find alternative housing options for the lower and at-risk population group and bring about supportive housing rather than the handcuffs that solve nothing

Conclusion

>Camping bans are as old as this nation and no one actually enjoys seeing them around their neighborhood, but to turn them to a felony of prison level offense is a new twist on persecution

>Advocate groups upon group state that it is the wrong road to take because it will leave the homeless person shackled in homelessness long after they are released from prison due to the felony record

>With the absolute lack of shelters, assisted living facilities, truly affordable housing, long supportive housing and rents that are beyond living wages what is the answer because camping?

>“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
 or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,” this admonition from the book of Job is so appropriate, but will we follow it or not?

CTA…..

Answer this, camping bans, felonies or not, prison or long term supportive housing to end homelessness

Answer this, two senators from rural counties write a camping ban law, do they understand the real problem and how to solve it?

Answer this, are there humans in the enchantments, or is it just a collections of problems and eye sores that must be bulldozed so it is out of sight and mind

        Answer this, how does prison help a homeless person turn their life around, it that not the goal, or they no longer important

        Tennessee is working with an outside “Think Tank’ to format homeless policy.  The answer they have come up with is a complex set of rules that punish the homeless, tie the hands of non-profits, restrict what cities can offer and bring no long-term answers

        Homeless advocates around the nations are very concerned because the United States as a whole is turning to criminalization of homelessness as a whole, and putting housing, solutions and long-term supportive housing on the deep back burner, even as our senior citizens are facing homelessness