With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless search refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip lost her home in the course of the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on payments. Residing in a car, the 34-year-old worries on daily basis about getting money for meals, finding someplace to bathe, and saving up sufficient money for an condo the place her three youngsters can stay with her again.

Now she has a brand new worry: Tennessee is about to grow to be the first U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on native public property such as parks.

“Truthfully, it’s going to be arduous,” Atnip said of the law, which takes effect July 1. “I don’t know where else to go.”

Tennessee already made it a felony in 2020 to camp on most state-owned property. In pushing the growth, Sen. Paul Bailey noted that no one has been convicted below that regulation and stated he doesn’t anticipate this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a person who has labored with homeless individuals within the metropolis of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — in part because he hopes it can spur individuals who care concerning the homeless to work with him on long-term options.

The legislation requires that violators obtain at the least 24 hours notice earlier than an arrest. The felony charge is punishable by as much as six years in jail and the lack of voting rights.

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... in the event that they wish to issue a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “However it’s only going to return to that if individuals actually don’t want to transfer.”

After a number of years of regular decline, homelessness in the US began growing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the primary time that the variety of unsheltered homeless people exceeded these in shelters. The problem was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capacity.

Public pressure to do one thing concerning the growing variety of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Although tenting has usually been regulated by native vagrancy laws, Texas handed a statewide ban last yr. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban danger losing state funding. Several other states have introduced related bills, but Tennessee is the only one to make camping a felony.

Bailey’s district consists of Cookeville, a city of about 35,000 folks between Nashville and Knoxville, where the local newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the growing variety of homeless people. The Herald-Citizen reported last yr that complaints about panhandlers almost doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the city put in indicators encouraging residents to offer to charities instead of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought of panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville got his attention. City council members have told him that Nashville ships its homeless right here, Bailey stated. It’s a rumor many in Cookeville have heard and Bailey seems to imagine. When Nashville fenced off a downtown park for renovation just lately, the homeless people who frequented it disappeared. “Where did they go?” Bailey requested.

Atnip laughed at the thought of people shipped in from Nashville. She was residing in close by Monterey when she lost her house and had to ship her children to reside along with her mother and father. She has received some government assist, however not sufficient to get her back on her feet, she stated. At one point she bought a housing voucher however couldn’t find a landlord who would settle for it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used automobile and have been working as supply drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they are going to lose the automobile and have to maneuver to a tent, though she isn’t certain where they may pitch it.

“It looks like once one factor goes mistaken, it form of snowballs,” Atnip mentioned. “We had been making money with DoorDash. Our payments have been paid. We were saving. Then the automobile goes kaput and everything goes bad.”

Eldridge, who has labored with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an sudden advocate of the tenting ban. He stated he needs to continue helping the homeless, however some folks aren’t motivated to enhance their situation. Some are hooked on medication, he stated, and some are hiding from legislation enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 individuals dwelling outside more or less completely in Cookeville, and he is aware of them all.

“Most of them have been right here a couple of years, and never once have they requested for housing help,” he stated.

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with different advocates.

“The massive downside with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. In truth, it is going to make the issue worse,” stated Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your file makes it arduous to qualify for some varieties of housing, more durable to get a job, tougher to qualify for benefits.”

Not everybody wants to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but people will move off the streets given the fitting alternatives, Watts said. Homelessness amongst U.S. army veterans, for instance, has been lower practically in half over the past decade by a mix of housing subsidies and social services.

“It’s not magic,” he said. “What works for that population, works for each inhabitants.”

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in nearby Sparta, was as soon as homeless along with her youngsters. Many individuals are only one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she said. Even in her group of 5,000, affordable housing is very exhausting to return by.

“When you have a felony on your document — holy smokes!” she stated.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, said he doesn’t anticipate many individuals to be prosecuted for sleeping on public property. “I can promise, they’re not going to be out here rounding up homeless people,” he stated of Cookeville law enforcement. However he doesn’t know what may occur in different parts of the state.

He hopes the new legislation will spur a few of its opponents to work with him on long-term solutions for Cookeville’s homeless. If they all worked together it would imply “numerous sources and possible funding sources to assist these in want,” he mentioned.

However different advocates don’t suppose threatening folks with a felony is a good way to help them.

“Criminalizing homelessness simply makes individuals criminals,” Watts stated.