With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her home during the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and she fell behind on bills. Dwelling in a automobile, the 34-year-old worries every day about getting money for meals, discovering somewhere to bathe, and saving up sufficient cash for an apartment the place her three children can stay along with her again.

Now she has a brand new worry: Tennessee is about to turn into the primary U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on local public property akin to parks.

“Actually, it’s going to be hard,” Atnip stated 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 nobody has been convicted below that legislation and mentioned he doesn’t expect this one to be enforced a lot, both. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has labored with homeless people within the metropolis of Cookeville and supports Bailey’s plan — partly because he hopes it will spur individuals who care concerning the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The law requires that violators receive at least 24 hours discover earlier than an arrest. The felony charge is punishable by as much as six years in prison and the loss of voting rights.

“It’s going to be as much as prosecutors ... in the event that they need to challenge a felony,” Bailey stated. “But it’s solely going to return to that if people actually don’t need to transfer.”

After a number of years of regular decline, homelessness in the US started growing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the first time that the number of unsheltered homeless folks exceeded these in shelters. The issue was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capability.

Public strain to do one thing in regards to the increasing variety of highly visible homeless encampments has pushed even many historically liberal cities to clear them. Though tenting has usually been regulated by local vagrancy laws, Texas handed a statewide ban final 12 months. Municipalities that fail to enforce the ban risk dropping state funding. A number of other states have introduced related payments, however Tennessee is the only one to make tenting a felony.

Bailey’s district contains Cookeville, a city of about 35,000 folks between Nashville and Knoxville, where the native newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the rising number of homeless individuals. The Herald-Citizen reported final 12 months that complaints about panhandlers almost doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the city installed indicators encouraging residents to give to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the Metropolis Council twice thought of panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville bought his attention. City council members have instructed 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 individuals who frequented it disappeared. “Where did they go?” Bailey requested.

Atnip laughed on the thought of individuals shipped in from Nashville. She was living in close by Monterey when she lost her home and had to send her youngsters to dwell with her dad and mom. She has received some government help, however not sufficient to get her again on her ft, she mentioned. At one level she obtained a housing voucher but couldn’t discover a landlord who would settle for it. She and her new husband saved sufficient to finance a used automotive and had been working as supply drivers until it broke down. Now she’s afraid they'll lose the car and have to maneuver to a tent, although she isn’t sure the place they'll pitch it.

“It looks like as soon as one thing goes incorrect, it type of snowballs,” Atnip said. “We were being profitable with DoorDash. Our bills have been paid. We were saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and all the pieces goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an surprising advocate of the camping ban. He mentioned he wants to continue helping the homeless, however some folks aren’t motivated to improve their scenario. Some are addicted to medication, he mentioned, and a few are hiding from law enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 folks residing exterior more or less permanently in Cookeville, and he knows all of them.

“Most of them have been here just a few years, and not as soon as have they asked for housing assist,” he said.

Eldridge is aware of his place is unpopular with different advocates.

“The massive problem with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. In reality, it would make the issue worse,” stated Bobby Watts, CEO of the Nationwide Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your file makes it arduous to qualify for some types of housing, harder to get a job, harder to qualify for benefits.”

Not everyone needs to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but people will transfer off the streets given the right opportunities, Watts mentioned. Homelessness amongst U.S. military veterans, for example, has been lower almost in half over the past decade by a combination of housing subsidies and social companies.

“It’s not magic,” he stated. “What works for that population, works for every population.”

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in nearby Sparta, was once homeless along with her kids. Many individuals are only one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she mentioned. Even in her neighborhood of 5,000, inexpensive housing may be very hard to come by.

“When you've got a felony on your file — holy smokes!” she stated.

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

He hopes the new legislation will spur a few of its opponents to work with him on long-term options for Cookeville’s homeless. If they all labored collectively it might mean “a variety of sources and possible funding sources to help those in want,” he said.

However different advocates don’t assume threatening individuals with a felony is an effective manner to help them.

“Criminalizing homelessness just makes folks criminals,” Watts said.