With public tenting a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her house during the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and she fell behind on bills. Dwelling in a automotive, the 34-year-old worries every day about getting money for food, finding someplace to bathe, and saving up sufficient cash for an house the place her three children can stay together with her once more.

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

“Honestly, it’s going to be arduous,” Atnip said 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 enlargement, Sen. Paul Bailey famous that no one has been convicted below that regulation and mentioned he doesn’t count on this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has worked with homeless individuals in the metropolis of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — partially because he hopes it'll spur people who care in regards to the homeless to work with him on long-term options.

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

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... in the event that they wish to challenge a felony,” Bailey said. “But it’s solely going to come to that if individuals actually don’t wish to transfer.”

After several years of regular decline, homelessness in the USA began increasing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 found 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 concerning the rising number of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Though tenting has generally been regulated by native vagrancy laws, Texas handed a statewide ban final yr. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban threat dropping state funding. Several different states have introduced comparable payments, however Tennessee is the only one to make camping a felony.

Bailey’s district consists of Cookeville, a city of about 35,000 people between Nashville and Knoxville, where the local newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the rising variety of homeless people. The Herald-Citizen reported last 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 give to charities instead of panhandlers. And the Metropolis Council twice thought-about panhandling bans.

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

Atnip laughed on the concept of individuals shipped in from Nashville. She was dwelling in nearby Monterey when she misplaced her residence and had to ship her children to dwell together with her parents. She has received some government help, however not enough to get her back on her ft, she mentioned. At one point she bought a housing voucher but couldn’t find a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved sufficient to finance a used automobile and had been working as supply drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they are going to lose the car 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 kind of snowballs,” Atnip stated. “We were being profitable with DoorDash. Our bills were paid. We were saving. Then the automobile goes kaput and the whole lot goes bad.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an surprising advocate of the camping ban. He said he wants to proceed serving to the homeless, however some folks aren’t motivated to enhance their state of affairs. Some are addicted to medication, he said, and some are hiding from law enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 folks residing outside more or less permanently in Cookeville, and he knows all of them.

“Most of them have been here a number of years, and not as soon as have they requested for housing help,” he stated.

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with other advocates.

“The massive problem with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. The truth is, it will make the problem worse,” stated Bobby Watts, CEO of the Nationwide Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony on your file makes it arduous to qualify for some kinds of housing, tougher to get a job, more durable to qualify for benefits.”

Not everybody wants to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, however folks will transfer off the streets given the proper alternatives, Watts stated. Homelessness among U.S. army veterans, for example, has been reduce nearly in half over the past decade by way of a combination of housing subsidies and social services.

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

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

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

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 law enforcement. However he doesn’t know what would possibly occur in different parts of the state.

He hopes the new legislation will spur a few of its opponents to work with him on long-term solutions for Cookeville’s homeless. If they all labored collectively it could mean “a lot of sources and possible funding sources to assist these in need,” he stated.

But other advocates don’t think threatening people with a felony is an efficient means to help them.

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