A year after the Supreme Court’s decision that made cities easier to punish criminal penalties for homelessness, arrests and sleeping outside, it’s on the rise in many of California’s biggest cities.
According to a report by Marisa Kendall’s Calmatters, the analysis found that arrests and citations for homelessness-related crimes rose by up to 500% (in San Francisco) in the six months after the decision to pass the grant. In Los Angeles, arrests rose 68%. In San Diego, arrests and quotations have doubled.
City officials say people to help them participate in housing and access services rather than not wanting to criminalize them. But homeless advocates say punitive measures often disrupt established communities and push people farther away from service providers. “But shelter beds are not always available. Last year, California had over 187,000 residents, and according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were less than 76,000 annual shelters and transitional residential beds.”
The article points out that since the grant made the decision, at least 50 California cities and three counties have passed new ordinances aimed at non-resident residents.
Kendall points out that invisible homelessness doesn’t mean people have moved into housing. According to Chris Haring, a professor of sociology at UCLA, “Most people sleep on cardboard or on the streets, moving every night.”
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