Discrimination against the homeless

Discrimination against the homeless is the act of treating the homeless, or those perceived to be homeless, unfavorably. As with most types of discrimination it can manifest in numerous forms.

Discriminatory legislation regarding homelessness

Use of the law to discriminate against the homeless takes on disparate forms: restricting the public areas in which sitting or sleeping are allowed, ordinances restricting aggressive panhandling,[1] actions intended to divert the homeless from particular areas, penalizing loitering or anti-social behavior,[2] or enforcing laws on the homeless and not on those who are not homeless.[3]

The French novelist Anatole France noted this phenomenon as long ago as 1894, famously observing that "the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges".[4]

Criminal victimization

See also: Homelessness in the United States § Crimes against homeless people

Precise factors associated with victimization and injury to the homeless are not clearly understood. Nearly one-half of homeless people are victims of violence.[5] There have been many violent crimes committed against the homeless due to their being homeless.[6] A study in 2007 found that this number is increasing.[7][8]

Lack of access to public restrooms

Per the National Alliance to End Homelessness,[9] in January 2017, there were a total of 553,742 homeless people accounted for across the United States, including territories. Of those accounted for, 192,875 of them were unsheltered and “lived in a place not meant for human habitation, such as the street or an abandoned building”. Many unsheltered homeless camps are located in industrial districts and along highways, far away from public parks facilities where traditional public bathrooms are located. If local municipalities do not provide bathroom access, the homeless are left to urinate and defecate in the streets and waterways near their camps. Robinson and Sickels with the University of Colorado Denver [10] released a report highlighting the criminalization of homelessness across the State of Colorado. During their research, they found that 83% of the people they interviewed were denied bathroom access because they were homeless. Without access to public bathrooms, unsheltered homeless populations across the country are living in third world conditions. This, in turn, leads to public health concerns such as the hepatitis A outbreak seen in California. As reported by Dr. Kushel with The New England Journal of Medicine,[11] in 2017 alone 649 people in California were infected with hepatitis A; this outbreak began in the homeless population. If we fail to consider the true cost of denying the homeless bathroom access, we put our communities at risk and leave an entire group of people to live as second-class citizens without basic first world amenities.

See also

• Aporophobia
• Homeless
• Anti-homelessness legislation
• List of homelessness organizations
• Hostile architecture
• Camden bench
• Homeless dumping
• Skid row
• Black triangle (badge)

References

1. Criminalizing Crisis: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities (Report). National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. November 2011. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
2. "Britain: Where have all the homeless gone?". The Economist. 372 (8388): 21–49.
3. Out of Sight - Out of Mind?. National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. 1999. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-7881-8276-1.
4. France, Anatole (1894). "VII". Le lys rouge (in French). Ils y doivent travailler devant la majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts
5. Meinbresse, M; Brinkley-Rubinstein, L; Grassette, A; Benson, J; Hamilton, R; Malott, M; Jenkins, D (2014). "Exploring the Experiences of Violence Among Individuals Who Are Homeless Using a Consumer-Led Approach". Violence & Victims. 29 (1): 122–136. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.vv-d-12-00069. PMID 24672998. S2CID 36463124.
6. Fantz, Ashley (February 20, 2007). "Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise". CNN.
7. Lewan, Todd (April 8, 2007). "Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soaring". USA Today. Associated Press.
8. National Coalition for the Homeless, Hate, "Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2006" Archived April 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, February 2007.
9. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2018). State of homelessness. National Alliance to End Homelessness, retrieved from https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/
10. Robinson and Sickels (2015). No right to rest criminalizing homelessness in Colorado. University of Colorado Denver and Denver Homeless Outloud, retrieved from http://www.cpr.org/sites/default/files/homelessness-study.pdf
11. Dr. Kushel, M. (2018). Hepatitis A outbreak in California – addressing the root cause. The New England Journal of Medicine, retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1714134