With public tenting a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her residence in the course of the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on payments. Living in a automobile, the 34-year-old worries each day about getting money for food, finding somewhere to bathe, and saving up enough money for an residence where her three children can dwell with her again.

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

“Truthfully, it’s going to be arduous,” Atnip said of the law, which takes impact 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 noted that no one has been convicted under that regulation and mentioned he doesn’t count on this one to be enforced much, both. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a person who has labored with homeless folks in the city of Cookeville and supports Bailey’s plan — in part as a result of he hopes it is going to spur people who care concerning 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 cost is punishable by up to six years in jail and the lack of voting rights.

“It’s going to be up to prosecutors ... in the event that they need to problem a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “However it’s solely going to come to that if folks really don’t need to move.”

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

Public strain to do something about the increasing variety of highly seen homeless encampments has pushed even many historically liberal cities to clear them. Though tenting has usually been regulated by native vagrancy laws, Texas passed a statewide ban last yr. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban danger losing state funding. Several different states have launched comparable bills, however Tennessee is the one one to make tenting a felony.

Bailey’s district consists of Cookeville, a metropolis of about 35,000 individuals between Nashville and Knoxville, the place the native newspaper has chronicled growing concern with the rising variety of homeless individuals. The Herald-Citizen reported final yr that complaints about panhandlers nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, town put in indicators encouraging residents to offer to charities instead of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought of panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville got his attention. Metropolis council members have advised him that Nashville ships its homeless here, Bailey mentioned. It’s a rumor many in Cookeville have heard and Bailey seems to believe. When Nashville fenced off a downtown park for renovation just lately, the homeless individuals who frequented it disappeared. “Where did they go?” Bailey requested.

Atnip laughed on the concept of individuals shipped in from Nashville. She was living in nearby Monterey when she lost her residence and had to ship her kids to dwell with her dad and mom. She has acquired some authorities assist, however not sufficient to get her again on her ft, she mentioned. At one level she got a housing voucher however couldn’t find a landlord who would accept it. She and her new husband saved enough to finance a used automotive and had been working as supply drivers till it broke down. Now she’s afraid they may lose the car and have to move to a tent, although she isn’t certain where they are going to pitch it.

“It looks as if once one thing goes unsuitable, it kind of snowballs,” Atnip stated. “We have been being profitable with DoorDash. Our bills were paid. We had been saving. Then the automobile goes kaput and all the pieces goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an unexpected advocate of the tenting ban. He stated he desires to proceed serving to the homeless, however some people aren’t motivated to enhance their situation. Some are addicted to drugs, he stated, and a few are hiding from legislation enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 folks dwelling outdoors kind of completely in Cookeville, and he is aware of them all.

“Most of them have been here a few years, and not once have they asked for housing assist,” he stated.

Eldridge knows his place is unpopular with other advocates.

“The large drawback with this legislation is that it does nothing to solve homelessness. The truth is, it can make the problem worse,” said Bobby Watts, CEO of the Nationwide Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your file makes it hard to qualify for some kinds of housing, more durable to get a job, harder to qualify for advantages.”

Not everyone needs to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, however folks will move off the streets given the correct opportunities, Watts stated. Homelessness among U.S. military veterans, for example, has been lower nearly in half over the past decade through a mixture of housing subsidies and social companies.

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

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in nearby Sparta, was as soon as homeless along with her children. Many people are just one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she mentioned. Even in her community of 5,000, reasonably priced housing may be very exhausting to come by.

“If in case you have a felony in your file — holy smokes!” she stated.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, mentioned he doesn’t expect many people to be prosecuted for sleeping on public property. “I can promise, they’re not going to be out here rounding up homeless folks,” he said of Cookeville legislation enforcement. However he doesn’t know what would possibly happen in other elements 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 all of them labored collectively it would mean “a lot of resources and doable funding sources to assist those in want,” he said.

However different advocates don’t think threatening people with a felony is an efficient means to assist them.

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