With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her residence throughout the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and she or he fell behind on bills. Dwelling in a automotive, the 34-year-old worries daily about getting cash for food, finding somewhere to bathe, and saving up enough cash for an condominium the place her three youngsters can reside with her again.

Now she has a brand new fear: Tennessee is about to turn out to be the primary U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on local public property resembling parks.

“Honestly, it’s going to be laborious,” Atnip stated of the regulation, which takes effect 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 enlargement, Sen. Paul Bailey noted that no one has been convicted below that law and mentioned he doesn’t count on this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has labored with homeless people within the city of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — partly as a result of he hopes it can spur people who care about the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The regulation requires that violators receive at the least 24 hours discover before an arrest. The felony cost is punishable by as much as six years in prison and the lack of voting rights.

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... in the event that they need to problem a felony,” Bailey stated. “However it’s solely going to return to that if folks actually don’t wish to move.”

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

Public stress to do one thing about the increasing number of highly visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Though tenting has generally been regulated by local vagrancy legal guidelines, Texas passed a statewide ban final yr. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban risk shedding state funding. A number of different states have introduced related bills, but Tennessee is the only one to make camping a felony.

Bailey’s district consists of Cookeville, a metropolis of about 35,000 people between Nashville and Knoxville, the place the local newspaper has chronicled rising concern with the growing variety of homeless folks. 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 put in signs encouraging residents to provide to charities as a substitute of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought of panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville got his attention. Metropolis council members have informed him that Nashville ships its homeless right here, Bailey mentioned. 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. “The place did they go?” Bailey asked.

Atnip laughed on the thought of individuals shipped in from Nashville. She was residing in close by Monterey when she lost her residence and had to ship her youngsters to live together with her parents. She has obtained some authorities assist, however not enough to get her back on her toes, she stated. At one level she obtained a housing voucher however couldn’t find a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used automotive and were working as supply drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they will lose the automotive and have to maneuver to a tent, although she isn’t certain the place they may pitch it.

“It looks like as soon as one thing goes incorrect, it sort of snowballs,” Atnip mentioned. “We were creating wealth with DoorDash. Our payments were paid. We were saving. Then the automobile goes kaput and the whole lot goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an sudden advocate of the camping ban. He mentioned he wants to proceed helping the homeless, but some individuals aren’t motivated to improve their situation. Some are addicted to medication, he stated, and a few are hiding from law enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 individuals living outdoors roughly completely in Cookeville, and he knows all of them.

“Most of them have been here a couple of years, and never once have they asked for housing assist,” he mentioned.

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

“The massive problem with this regulation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. The truth is, it will make the issue worse,” mentioned Bobby Watts, CEO of the Nationwide Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony on your record makes it onerous to qualify for some types of housing, more durable to get a job, harder to qualify for benefits.”

Not everyone desires to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but folks will move off the streets given the precise alternatives, Watts said. Homelessness amongst U.S. army veterans, for instance, has been lower almost in half over the previous decade by way of a mixture of housing subsidies and social services.

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

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in close by Sparta, was as soon as homeless together with her youngsters. Many individuals are just one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she mentioned. Even in her community of 5,000, reasonably priced housing may be very laborious to come back by.

“When you have a felony in your report — holy smokes!” she mentioned.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, mentioned he doesn’t anticipate 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 people,” he said of Cookeville regulation enforcement. However he doesn’t know what would possibly happen in other components of the state.

He hopes the brand new legislation will spur some of its opponents to work with him on long-term solutions for Cookeville’s homeless. If all of them worked collectively it could mean “a whole lot of sources and potential funding sources to assist those in want,” he mentioned.

However other advocates don’t think threatening folks with a felony is an effective method to help them.

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