With public tenting a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip lost her house through the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on bills. Residing in a automotive, the 34-year-old worries each day about getting cash for food, finding somewhere to shower, and saving up sufficient cash for an condo the place her three kids can dwell with her again.

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

“Actually, it’s going to be laborious,” Atnip said of the regulation, 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 expansion, Sen. Paul Bailey famous that no one has been convicted below that legislation and mentioned he doesn’t anticipate this one to be enforced a lot, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has worked with homeless people within the city of Cookeville and helps Bailey’s plan — in part as a result of he hopes it'll spur people who care in regards to the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The law requires that violators receive a minimum of 24 hours notice before an arrest. The felony cost is punishable by up to six years in jail and the loss of voting rights.

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... if they wish to subject a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “But it surely’s only going to return to that if individuals really don’t want to move.”

After several years of steady decline, homelessness in the US began growing 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 stress to do something about the rising number of highly seen homeless encampments has pushed even many traditionally liberal cities to clear them. Though camping has generally been regulated by local vagrancy legal guidelines, Texas handed a statewide ban last 12 months. Municipalities that fail to enforce the ban risk dropping state funding. Several other states have introduced similar bills, but Tennessee is the one one to make tenting a felony.

Bailey’s district includes Cookeville, a city of about 35,000 individuals between Nashville and Knoxville, where the native newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the increasing number of homeless people. The Herald-Citizen reported final yr that complaints about panhandlers nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the city put in signs encouraging residents to give to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the Metropolis Council twice thought-about panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville got his consideration. Metropolis council members have instructed him that Nashville ships its homeless here, Bailey said. It’s a rumor many in Cookeville have heard and Bailey appears 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 requested.

Atnip laughed at the concept of people shipped in from Nashville. She was living in close by Monterey when she lost her dwelling and needed to ship her children to live with her mother and father. She has obtained some authorities assist, however not sufficient to get her back on her toes, she stated. At one level she acquired a housing voucher but couldn’t discover a landlord who would settle for it. She and her new husband saved sufficient to finance a used automobile and were working as supply drivers until it broke down. Now she’s afraid they may lose the car and have to maneuver to a tent, though she isn’t positive where they may pitch it.

“It looks as if once one thing goes wrong, it kind of snowballs,” Atnip stated. “We were creating wealth with DoorDash. Our bills had been paid. We had been saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and everything goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an surprising advocate of the camping ban. He stated he wants to proceed helping the homeless, however some individuals aren’t motivated to enhance their situation. Some are addicted to medication, he stated, and a few are hiding from legislation enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 individuals living exterior more or less completely in Cookeville, and he is aware of all of them.

“Most of them have been right here a number of years, and not as soon as have they asked for housing assist,” he said.

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with other advocates.

“The large downside with this regulation is that it does nothing to solve homelessness. In fact, it will make the issue worse,” said Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony on your record makes it arduous to qualify for some forms of housing, tougher to get a job, tougher to qualify for advantages.”

Not everyone desires to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but individuals will transfer off the streets given the precise opportunities, Watts said. Homelessness amongst U.S. military veterans, for example, has been cut practically in half over the previous decade through a mix of housing subsidies and social companies.

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

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in close by Sparta, was as soon as homeless with her kids. Many people are only one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she stated. Even in her neighborhood of 5,000, inexpensive housing could be very hard to return by.

“If you have a felony on your report — holy smokes!” she said.

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 right here rounding up homeless people,” he mentioned of Cookeville legislation enforcement. However he doesn’t know what may occur in different components 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 they all labored collectively it might mean “a whole lot of sources and potential funding sources to help these in need,” he said.

But different advocates don’t assume threatening individuals with a felony is a good approach to assist them.

“Criminalizing homelessness simply makes people criminals,” Watts stated.