Meanest Cities List Released
Florida and California top lists

Photo by Cheryl Jones--2008 graduate of the NEOCH Photo Project

The National Coalition for the Homeless (full disclosure--I am Vice President of NCH) and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty published their latest report on how cities in the United States are treating homeless people. I co-chair the Civil Rights committee, and we hear from cities around the United States about new laws cities are trying to pass laws that hide homeless people. The report "Homes Not Handcuffs: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities" was published on Monday July 13. The big news in the report, which was featured on NPR's website and Huffington Post, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle among others, is always the top 10 meanest cities in the United States:

1. Los Angeles , CA
2. St. Petersburg . FL
3. Orlando , FL
4. Atlanta , GA
5. Gainesville , FL
6. Kalamazoo, MI
   
7. San Francisco, CA
   
8. Honolulu, HI
   
9. Bradenton, FL
   
10. Berkeley, CA
    

I always like to see the reaction from City officials. They never focus on the issue of criminalizing homeless people or disputing the number of arrests, but they try the misdirect. Basically, they say, "Don't look over there at our no feeding ordinances, but look how much money we spend on shelters." They never say, "Can you believe that we receive millions of dollars from the federal government, and yet we have the nerve to send the police out to arrest the same people that we are receiving funds to serve?" I especially liked the response from the City of San Francisco, California number 7 on the list as reported in the USA Today:

"It also criticizes Mayor Gavin Newsom's idea last year to install homeless meters to encourage people to give spare change to social services rather than directly to panhandlers. The proposal has stalled after being roundly mocked, so maybe we're only, like, eighth meanest."

Those are the headlines, but there is a ton of information inside the report including a two year look at cities throughout the United States. The report looks at the trend toward donation meters (coming to Cleveland in the next few months). They focus on the costs associated with criminalization, and effective alternatives. This features our work on trying to come to a compromise on the distribution of food downtown in 2007-2008. The main body of the report is the overview of nearly every big city in the United States, and various attempts to control the homeless population through law enforcement in lieu of social services. Here is a piece of the Cleveland report:

"In July of 2007, during the City Council’s summer session the City passed a 10 p.m.
curfew on Public Square, a popular location for homeless people to sleep. The Council
declared Public Square a park and thus was subject to the 10 p.m. curfew for everyone including homeless people. Activists protested, but homeless people just moved to other locations just off of the Square."

Akron's horrible panhandling law was not featured (probably because it passed over two years ago), but they certainly deserve some additional scrutiny for making panhandling a job with identification. The report also features all the cases in the United States that involved homeless people including the Cincy panhandling case, the NEOCH sweeps case, and the new legal efforts to restict access to food on the streets. The most shameful aspect of the report is the huge "Prohibited Conduct Chart," which indicate 7-12% increase in laws prohibiting panhandling, loitering or sitting in public spaces over the last two years. This is a disgrace in the United States to have all of these cities spending time, resources and jail space to make it illegal to be homeless.

Brian
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