With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless search refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her residence through the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on payments. Living in a car, the 34-year-old worries each day about getting cash for meals, discovering someplace to shower, and saving up enough money for an house the place her three kids can stay with her again.

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

“Actually, it’s going to be arduous,” Atnip stated of the legislation, which takes impact 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 expansion, Sen. Paul Bailey famous that no one has been convicted below that legislation 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 folks in the metropolis of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — partially as a result of he hopes it would spur people who care about the homeless to work with him on long-term options.

The regulation requires that violators receive not less than 24 hours notice before an arrest. The felony charge is punishable by up to six years in prison and the loss of voting rights.

“It’s going to be as much as prosecutors ... if they wish to issue a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “But it surely’s solely going to come to that if folks actually don’t need to move.”

After several years of steady decline, homelessness in the USA began rising in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the primary time that the number of unsheltered homeless folks exceeded these in shelters. The problem was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capacity.

Public strain to do something in regards to the increasing variety of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Although camping has usually been regulated by local vagrancy legal guidelines, Texas handed a statewide ban final 12 months. Municipalities that fail to enforce the ban danger dropping state funding. Several different states have launched related bills, however Tennessee is the only one to make tenting a felony.

Bailey’s district includes 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 folks. The Herald-Citizen reported last yr that complaints about panhandlers almost doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, town put in signs encouraging residents to give to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought-about panhandling bans.

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

Atnip laughed on the thought of people shipped in from Nashville. She was residing in nearby Monterey when she lost her residence and had to ship her kids to live with her mother and father. She has acquired some authorities assist, but not enough to get her back on her toes, she mentioned. At one level she acquired a housing voucher however couldn’t discover a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved sufficient to finance a used car and have been working as supply drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they'll lose the car and have to move to a tent, although she isn’t sure the place they'll pitch it.

“It looks as if as soon as one factor goes wrong, it kind of snowballs,” Atnip stated. “We were creating wealth with DoorDash. Our bills had been paid. We have been saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and the whole lot goes dangerous.”

Eldridge, who has labored with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an sudden advocate of the camping ban. He stated he wants to proceed helping the homeless, however some individuals aren’t motivated to enhance their scenario. Some are addicted to drugs, he stated, and some are hiding from legislation 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 right here a couple of years, and never once have they requested for housing assist,” he said.

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with other advocates.

“The large problem with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. The truth is, it is going to make the issue worse,” mentioned Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your report makes it exhausting to qualify for some forms of housing, harder to get a job, tougher to qualify for advantages.”

Not everyone needs to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but individuals will move off the streets given the precise opportunities, Watts said. Homelessness amongst U.S. navy veterans, for example, has been reduce nearly in half over the past decade via a combination 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 close by Sparta, was once homeless with her youngsters. Many individuals are only one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she mentioned. Even in her group of 5,000, inexpensive housing is very laborious to come back by.

“If you have a felony on your document — holy smokes!” she stated.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, mentioned he doesn’t expect many individuals to be prosecuted for sleeping on public property. “I can promise, they’re not going to be out here rounding up homeless individuals,” he mentioned of Cookeville law enforcement. But he doesn’t know what may occur in different elements of the state.

He hopes the new law will spur a few of its opponents to work with him on long-term options for Cookeville’s homeless. If all of them labored together it would imply “numerous sources and possible funding sources to assist those in want,” he stated.

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

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