We Have Nowhere To Go

By Jennifer Paradis
Homelessness

Jennifer Paradis

It is now a crime to be homeless in America. The recent decision of the US Supreme Court case, Johnson v. Grants Pass, upholds the will of local governments to implement ordinances with civil and criminal penalties for camping on public land. Previous to Johnson v. Grants Pass, the law of the land drew from the conclusion of Martin v. Boise in 2018, where the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that city officials in Boise, Idaho could not enforce an anti-camping ordinance whenever its homeless population exceeded the number of available beds in its homeless shelters.

Today in America, more than 650,000 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night, leading to more than 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness over the course of 2023. Of these staggering numbers, a quarter of a million are children under the age of 18 and almost 62,000 are seniors over the age of 65. Approximately 40 percent of people who experience homelessness – and nearly one-half of all families with children – are Black, African or African American, even though as a racial group they represent less than 13 percent of the US population.

Today in Connecticut, 2,288 people live unsheltered, including 148 children, 199 youth under the age of 24 and 603 seniors. They are unsheltered because there are not enough shelter beds in the state to provide one for each person in need. While each person waits their turn for emergency shelter, on a waiting list of hundreds, they are forced to sleep outside, in their car or in alternative places not meant for habitation.

Does that make them criminals? Now the law says that is the decision of local governments.

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor began by stressing the scope of the homelessness problem in America, calling it a “complex and heartbreaking crisis.” The problem stems, she explained, from a variety of “interconnected issues, including crippling debt and stagnant wages; domestic and sexual abuse; physical and psychiatric disabilities; and rising housing costs coupled with declining affordable housing options.”

It’s important to understand these conditions in proportion to one another. Last year, nearly 80 percent of all households seeking services at Beth-El Center shared that their primary factor contributing to homelessness is “expenses exceeding income,” meaning that most people were homeless simply because they could not afford housing any longer and/or a disconnected prevention network led them to too few resources too late. To afford housing in Connecticut, a renter needs to make double the minimum wage, or over $70,000 a year. The fully vested older adult on Social Security brings in on average $22,884 annually.

The real crime is to set our communities up to fail like this.

Our country has a long and painful history of removing people from communities and stripping people of their humanity. The pains of slavery, manifest destiny, the institutionalization of the mentally ill and the continued under-investment in community-based mental health, and a broken criminal justice system are some but not all examples of the means by which we have criminalized people’s vulnerabilities. These moments are always a choice.

By arresting people for being homeless, everyone loses. Studies have shown that, through police hours, jail time and court resources, the criminalization of homelessness costs nearly three times more than resolving one’s homelessness through housing.

On behalf of the Beth-El Center and the veterans, individuals and families we serve, we ask that all local governments seek understanding from those most impacted by these targeted actions. As always, when all voices are present and respected, we can make the best decisions for our community together, rising above a challenging economic climate and advancing our society forward to a more equitable future.

Jennifer Paradis is the executive director of the Beth-El Center in Milford.