Law Center slams L.A. as America's 'meanest city' toward homeless

Los Angeles tops the list of America's "10 Meanest Cities" in its treatment of the homeless as criminals, two legal advocacy agencies for the poor say in a report proposing alternatives for handling the down-and-out.

The survey of 273 cities by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless based its rankings on the number of laws targeting the homeless by making it illegal to sleep, eat or sit in public spaces.

"Homelessness in America is a human-rights crisis right here at home," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the law center. "As foreclosures continue and the recession deepens, the crisis is affecting more and more Americans. But while some cities offer a helping hand, too often, as documented in our report, cities adopt unjust laws and practices that punish people simply for being poor and homeless."

Tulin Ozdeger, the law center's civil rights program director, argued that it costs more to jail a homeless person in violation of the "inhumane" laws than to provide permanent housing.

Other cities rounding out the list in the report, titled Homes, Not Handcuffs, are 2) St. Petersburg, Fla.; 3) Orlando, Fla.; 4) Atlanta;5) Gainesville, Fla.; 6) Kalamazoo, Mich.; 7) San Francisco; 8) Honolulu;9) Bradenton, Fla.; 10) Berkeley, Calif.

To view the full homeless report, visit: http://www.nlchp.org/

--Carol J. Williams

Comments

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[Rosee]

Why is this allowed? Tell us Mr. Mayor and City Council.

Why were the homes (downtown hotels, apts) that were home to many poor sold to developers so they could make a big bucks selling, leasing to those with the money?

At least when these people had those places to live they were off the street. And if this city really cared about them..they would have made sure those places were up to code and monitored for safety and healthy conditions.

It's such a travesity that this city doesn't really help these people....they are just an eyesore to them...and inconvienence to those new tenants that have occupied places that were once their homes!

If you don't want these HUMAN BEINGS to eat, sleep or sit where it offends you...then give them a home...a safe place to rest their weary bodies and maybe..just maybe overcome their circumstances.

[Brian]

Cry me a river.

Maybe if I didn't get aggressively panhandled 20x a day / cursed at by bums while I'm rushing from Job 1 to Job 2 to family to tiny bits of sleep....I might care.

For the mentally ill, there should be a solution above and beyond what LA can provide.

For the rest, get a life.

[one]

This is a very sad reality! You become poor and homeless then you become an outlaw and considered to be a criminal and this is happening in the Golden State of the most powerful country in the World?
Isn't that life in general supposed to be better and easier for everybody as time goes by, yet we realize that our fathers had better and easier lives than their children, us? The reason people are working and struggling so hard year by year enjoying(?) their miserable two weeks yearly allowed paid vacations in North America is to create a better and easier life in North America, if not for our selves then at least for our children! If we struggle then to make sense of it at least we should struggle for a good reason for a BETTER FUTURE! -Does it make sense? It does, BIG TIME!
This Recession is started out from here, the US, and not from for example Europe where the people in general work less yet produce more and real quality goods and products. They start their work year where they spend 35 hours at their workplace/week yet they get a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacations plus a week Christmas holiday, minimum 22 days 100% and after 22 days if the person is still sick 66% paid sick leave/year coupled with free health care and after 3-5 years of work at the same employer their yearly paid vacation can go up to 8-10 weeks. Yet, in Europe homelessness is almost nonexistent, at least it is far from being as bad as it is in the United States! On the top of this, at least on paper Europe is not as rich as the United States yet European people enjoy a better quality life where they educate themselves more, live a healthier life, travel more...etc., simply put their life in general is better than ours here in the great U.S. of A.
Way to go America toward a better future!
Is life really better here or it's only better on the TV?

[David Rodriguez]

Berkeley, CA is NOT one of the meanest cities to the homeless, they just complain more. There are several public parks that have really lax policies concerning homeless people, and provide shelter. Berkeley is the only city I've been where one homeless person wishes you good luck on final exams, while the next chastises you for fun or for more spare change.

And it seems like the whole state of Florida hates homeless people.

[Kell]

Really though is this a surprise? And they are footing the bill for the Michael Jackson memorial.Everyone knows where LA's priorities are.

[K Brown]

The ACLU should be suing LA - not Santa Monica?!

[jeffsd]

awesome. its good to hear that LA is doing something right for a change. homeless people suck.

[Robert Walcott]

This will change

[guity]

You have to expect that from a city which is primarily populated by atheists...

[Tony B]

I guess this explains why they all come over to Santa Monica....Well that, plus SM is probably the nicest city to the homeless.

[Maxee]

If what the law center claims was true, LA would be a safe place to walk at night, instead it is a real life scene from "Dawn of the living dead". The homeless in downtown are an embarassment, they should be placed in a secure gated area and be fed, clothed and given mental help. To permit them to live on the street and live like animals is inhumane. We can't allow them to decide for themselves because they obviously are not making the right decisions. The law center attorneys should spend more time pushing for legislation mandating the above than coming up with obviously unsubstantiated conclusions.

[m]

POH- good luck getting any suit against LAT into federal court. What basis would the jurisdiction be? LAT is a private organization, they can do as they please concerning their blog (who and what is posted on it).

It's hilarious when people like you get "crazy" because it shows how little you know.

[Zenndogg]

And the tact that 2.7 million illegal aliens live in California has nothing to do with the homelessness problem, does it?

[Sandra Klaus]

It's appalling that a city can have these laws on the books. Fortunately LA is a big city and some communities are more lenient about enforcing the law then others. The Coastal Commission upheld the right of RV living homeless to sleep overnight in Venice and many residents support our right to sleep overnight on city streets.

[apea]

The higher percentage of homeless in cities and locales with milder climates is to be expected.

The very rich control the rest of us and are heavily invested in the status quo. In this highly technologically advanced and automated age, there is no reason we can't house and care for the homeless -- and substance abusers and mentally ill as well. But the very rich use the homeless and other unfortunates to manipulate our mind-set into espousing the values and lifestyles they want us to espouse, for their own purposes, not for the good of humanity. Forget the "philanthropy" of the rich. They refuse to care for the homeless, mentally ill and substance abusers because these are useful distractions and scapegoats. Otherwise, we'd be on to the ways the very rich manipulate world economies and politics. We could deal more effectively with the very real problems of climate change and diminishing water resources, for instance, if we weren't distracted by problems caused by the very rich.

We need to raise taxes on the very rich. Never mind concerns they'll all relocate to other countries. That may have happened during Reagan's youth, but other industrialized, desirable countries have tax laws now, too. The argument that the very rich will always find a way around the tax laws assumes we are incapable of prosecuting illegal activity.

The very rich became very rich off the backs of all of the rest of us. It is time for them to pay their dues now.

[Malby]

Seriously, are we surprised that the list of "mean" is primarily sunny, resort-type places that are overrun with homeless? Passinglaws that survive court challenges doesn't make you mean. Encouraging the homeless to migrate to your town is stupid. Agressive panhandlers and people sleeping and defecating in doorways were only part of the problem. Lots of parks in LA are off-limits to families, because they are inghabited by the "homeless." As the commenter above said, for the mentally ill, anhother option is required. (The ACLU "solved" the problem of the mentally ill by getting them all released. Now look.) For the rest of you--I'm looking at you, druggies and alcoholics--get alife, preferably elsewhere.

[Malby]

"To be homeless in Los Angeles is a HORRIFYING event every single day." All the more reason to return to where you came from.

[Malby]

"I'll be the first to admit that laws that make life more difficult for homeless are inhumane and unjust. Probably unconstitutional if challenged in court. I thought this was America, land of the Free and Home of the Brave. A place where people could roam around freely and without limits. We need to get back to those ideals."
What makes you think the laws haven't be challenged? Of course they have. The homeless advocates lost. No one is stopping anyone from "roaming." Just sleeping in public parks or panhandling on the streets. There is no constitutional right to do either of those.

[speedstan]

"National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty" = Poverty Pimps. This outfit does NOTHING to genuinely help the homeless - it just presents itself as an advocacy group so the fleabag lawyers can sue and petition the court for reimbursment of legal fees. Learn to recognize a racket when you see one...

[jon ruh]

The "National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty" is a seriously corrupt group. Just lawyers digging for as much money as possible but not doing a single thing to actually fight to help the homeless. We wouldn't have so many homeless people had Reagan not put an end to helping the mentally ill and severely reducing taxes for the rich. It's remained that way ever since he was in office and it'll be a battle to get our tax code back to a fair system again. During that same time period Reagan also did all he could to increase bigpharma's profits by sucking all the finances possible out of anyone that gets sick. He even made it illegal to sue vaccine manufacturers, so now our vaccines are loaded with poisons to increase their shelf life and increase profits, but cause so many illnesses. A good percentage of these autistic kids will end up homeless on the street.

Now when people get sick and go bankrupt trying to get better then end up on our streets waiting to die or going nuts.

[macdoodle]

i was homeless and we disabled esp multi and severely disabled get denied shelter or access to our needs in most cities. We get a bad rep from addicts who are there more by (bad)choice and also victimize us .

PLEASE NOTE there are programs to help HEALthy addicts, families.
Only some PEOPLE with DISABiLITIES who can access REGIONAL CEnTERS for better MED CARE coverage
ACCESSIBLE HOUSING LOCATION
MOVEIN assist.
MOVING assist
FURNISHINGS, ETC.

Many disabled lose their section 8 vouchers unable to get the housing and necessary assistance.

multi disabled and NOT covered by DEV DELAY -
We get mean and form the road below poverty level you must do it ALL yourself every where IN CA .

Orange County and others may seem nicer but they just run us out fast. OR YOU ARE now able to get in to a church controlled shelter if you give up rights to outside medical psyche and meet their other criteria. they assured me also NO accessibility for my special needs when i called. no one would ADVOCATE.

NOTE: typical shelter rules able to work in 30 days. ( often adjusted for those represented by addiction recovery programs not disability who have no rep if not DD or BLIND.

See who discriminates.
most.
SEE WHO ADVOCATES
none.

For most with disability its MEAN IN EVERY CITY.