With public tenting 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 or he fell behind on payments. Dwelling in a automobile, the 34-year-old worries day by day about getting cash for food, discovering somewhere to shower, and saving up enough money for an house where her three kids can stay with her again.

Now she has a brand new worry: Tennessee is about to change into the first U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on native public property reminiscent of parks.

“Truthfully, it’s going to be onerous,” Atnip mentioned of the regulation, which takes impact July 1. “I don’t know the place else to go.”

Tennessee already made it a felony in 2020 to camp on most state-owned property. In pushing the expansion, Sen. Paul Bailey famous that no one has been convicted under that regulation and said he doesn’t count on this one to be enforced a lot, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a person who has worked with homeless individuals within the city of Cookeville and supports Bailey’s plan — in part as a result of he hopes it'll spur people who care concerning the homeless to work with him on long-term options.

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

“It’s going to be as much as prosecutors ... in the event that they want to subject a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “But it surely’s solely going to come back to that if people really don’t wish to transfer.”

After several years of steady decline, homelessness in the United States started growing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the primary time that the number of unsheltered homeless people exceeded those in shelters. The issue was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capacity.

Public strain to do something about the growing variety of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many historically liberal cities to clear them. Although camping has generally been regulated by native vagrancy laws, Texas handed a statewide ban final year. Municipalities that fail to enforce the ban threat dropping state funding. Several different 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, the place the native newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the growing variety of homeless individuals. The Herald-Citizen reported final 12 months that complaints about panhandlers practically doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the city installed indicators encouraging residents to present to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought of panhandling bans.

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

Atnip laughed at the idea of people shipped in from Nashville. She was dwelling in close by Monterey when she misplaced her home and needed to send her kids to reside along with her mother and father. She has obtained some authorities assist, but not sufficient to get her again on her ft, she stated. At one level she received a housing voucher but couldn’t find a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used automotive and have 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 positive the place they will pitch it.

“It looks as if once one factor goes unsuitable, it kind of snowballs,” Atnip said. “We were earning profits with DoorDash. Our bills had been paid. We have been saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and all the things goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has labored with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an unexpected advocate of the tenting ban. He mentioned he wants to proceed helping the homeless, however some people aren’t motivated to enhance their situation. Some are hooked on drugs, he stated, and a few are hiding from legislation enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 folks dwelling outdoors roughly completely in Cookeville, and he is aware of them all.

“Most of them have been here a few years, and not once have they requested for housing help,” he mentioned.

Eldridge knows his position is unpopular with other advocates.

“The massive problem with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. In truth, it can make the problem worse,” mentioned Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your file makes it onerous to qualify for some kinds of housing, tougher to get a job, harder to qualify for advantages.”

Not everyone desires to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but folks will move off the streets given the suitable alternatives, Watts stated. Homelessness among U.S. military veterans, for instance, has been cut nearly in half over the previous decade by a mixture of housing subsidies and social companies.

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

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

“In case you have a felony in your report — holy smokes!” she stated.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, stated he doesn’t anticipate many individuals 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 mentioned of Cookeville legislation enforcement. But he doesn’t know what would possibly occur in other components of the state.

He hopes the new regulation will spur some of its opponents to work with him on long-term solutions for Cookeville’s homeless. If all of them labored collectively it will imply “a whole lot of sources and possible funding sources to assist these in want,” he mentioned.

However different advocates don’t suppose threatening individuals with a felony is an efficient means to help them.

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