With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip lost her house during the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on payments. Dwelling in a automotive, the 34-year-old worries daily about getting cash for food, finding someplace to shower, and saving up sufficient cash for an condo the place her three youngsters can stay with her again.

Now she has a brand new fear: Tennessee is about to turn into 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 legislation, 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 growth, Sen. Paul Bailey noted that nobody has been convicted underneath that legislation and stated he doesn’t anticipate this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has worked with homeless folks within the city of Cookeville and supports Bailey’s plan — partly as a result of he hopes it can spur individuals who care about the homeless to work with him on long-term options.

The legislation requires that violators receive at the least 24 hours notice before 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 ... if they need to problem a felony,” Bailey said. “Nevertheless it’s solely going to return to that if folks really don’t want to move.”

After a number of years of regular decline, homelessness in the USA began growing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the first time that the variety of unsheltered homeless individuals exceeded those in shelters. The issue was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capacity.

Public stress to do something in regards to the growing number of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Although tenting has generally been regulated by native vagrancy legal guidelines, Texas handed a statewide ban last 12 months. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban danger losing state funding. A number of different states have introduced related bills, however Tennessee is the one one to make camping a felony.

Bailey’s district includes Cookeville, a metropolis of about 35,000 folks between Nashville and Knoxville, the place the native newspaper has chronicled rising concern with the increasing variety of homeless folks. The Herald-Citizen reported last yr that complaints about panhandlers practically doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the city put in indicators encouraging residents to give to charities instead of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought-about panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville received his consideration. Metropolis 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 appears to consider. When Nashville fenced off a downtown park for renovation lately, the homeless people who frequented it disappeared. “Where did they go?” Bailey requested.

Atnip laughed at the concept of people shipped in from Nashville. She was dwelling in close by Monterey when she misplaced her home and needed to ship her kids to live along with her parents. She has acquired some government help, however not enough to get her back on her ft, she stated. At one point she acquired a housing voucher but couldn’t discover a landlord who would settle for it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used car and had been working as delivery drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they will lose the automobile and have to move to a tent, though she isn’t sure where they may pitch it.

“It looks as if as soon as one factor goes unsuitable, it form of snowballs,” Atnip said. “We were making money with DoorDash. Our bills have been paid. We have been saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and all the things goes bad.”

Eldridge, who has labored with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an sudden advocate of the camping ban. He mentioned he needs to proceed serving to the homeless, but some individuals aren’t motivated to improve their scenario. Some are hooked on drugs, he stated, and a few are hiding from law enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 people dwelling outside more or less permanently in Cookeville, and he is aware of all of them.

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

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with different advocates.

“The big downside with this law is that it does nothing to solve homelessness. In reality, it is going to make the issue worse,” stated Bobby Watts, CEO of the Nationwide Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your report makes it arduous to qualify for some kinds of housing, harder to get a job, harder to qualify for benefits.”

Not everyone wants to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but individuals will move off the streets given the fitting alternatives, Watts stated. Homelessness amongst U.S. military veterans, for instance, has been reduce almost in half over the previous decade by way of a mix of housing subsidies and social providers.

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

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in nearby Sparta, was as soon as homeless 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, reasonably priced housing may be very laborious to return by.

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

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 right here rounding up homeless individuals,” he said of Cookeville regulation enforcement. However he doesn’t know what might occur in other elements 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 together it would mean “a number of resources and potential funding sources to help these in need,” he stated.

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

“Criminalizing homelessness just makes people criminals,” Watts mentioned.