With public camping a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip lost her house throughout the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and she fell behind on bills. Dwelling in a car, the 34-year-old worries every single day about getting cash for meals, finding someplace to shower, and saving up enough cash for an condominium the place her three youngsters can dwell with her again.

Now she has a brand new fear: Tennessee is about to grow to be the primary U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on native public property similar to parks.

“Honestly, it’s going to be laborious,” Atnip mentioned of the law, 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 growth, Sen. Paul Bailey famous that no one has been convicted underneath that regulation and stated he doesn’t anticipate this one to be enforced much, both. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a person who has labored with homeless folks within the metropolis of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — partly as a result of he hopes it'll spur people who care about the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The law requires that violators receive not less than 24 hours discover earlier than an arrest. The felony cost is punishable by up to six years in jail and the lack of voting rights.

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... if they want to difficulty a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “But it’s only going to return to that if folks actually don’t want to move.”

After a number of years of steady decline, homelessness in the US began increasing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 found for the first time that the variety of unsheltered homeless individuals exceeded those in shelters. The problem was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capability.

Public stress to do something concerning the increasing number of extremely visible homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Though camping has usually been regulated by native vagrancy laws, Texas passed a statewide ban final yr. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban threat shedding state funding. A number of other states have launched comparable bills, but Tennessee is the one one to make tenting a felony.

Bailey’s district contains Cookeville, a city of about 35,000 folks between Nashville and Knoxville, the place the local newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the rising variety of homeless individuals. The Herald-Citizen reported last year that complaints about panhandlers nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the town put in signs encouraging residents to offer to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the Metropolis Council twice considered panhandling bans.

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

Atnip laughed at the concept of individuals shipped in from Nashville. She was residing in close by Monterey when she lost her house and had to ship her kids to stay along with her dad and mom. She has acquired some government assist, but not sufficient to get her back on her feet, she stated. At one level she bought a housing voucher but couldn’t find a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used automobile and were working as supply drivers until it broke down. Now she’s afraid they are going to lose the automotive and have to move to a tent, though she isn’t certain the place they'll pitch it.

“It looks like as soon as one factor goes unsuitable, it type of snowballs,” Atnip stated. “We have been making a living with DoorDash. Our bills have been paid. We have been saving. Then the automobile goes kaput and everything goes dangerous.”

Eldridge, who has labored with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an surprising advocate of the tenting ban. He mentioned he desires to proceed helping the homeless, but some individuals aren’t motivated to improve their scenario. Some are addicted to medication, he said, and some 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 a number of years, and not once have they requested for housing help,” he said.

Eldridge knows his position is unpopular with other advocates.

“The big drawback with this law is that it does nothing to solve 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 file makes it arduous to qualify for some kinds of housing, harder to get a job, tougher to qualify for advantages.”

Not everybody wants to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, however individuals will move off the streets given the best alternatives, Watts stated. Homelessness amongst U.S. navy veterans, for instance, has been lower practically in half over the previous decade via a combination of housing subsidies and social companies.

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

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

“If you have a felony in 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 here rounding up homeless folks,” he mentioned of Cookeville regulation enforcement. But he doesn’t know what might occur in different parts of the state.

He hopes the brand new law will spur a few of its opponents to work with him on long-term options for Cookeville’s homeless. If they all labored collectively it could imply “plenty of assets and potential funding sources to help these in want,” he mentioned.

However different advocates don’t assume threatening individuals with a felony is a good method to help them.

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