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Homelessness isn’t just an east coast problem. Yes, California gets a lot of flack for the size of its homeless population, but a short walk through Manhattan would show that homelessness is a coast to coast issue. It is a serious problem, not having a steady place to stay. No one should have to live in an abundant city without a roof or a place to safeguard their personal effects — where better to ensure those protections than the City of Brotherly Love?
Homeless encampment closings, or “sweeps,” have become a regular occurrence in Philadelphia. Every week, members of the police department and other city agencies determine which encampment locations will be closed, and within a specified period of time—usually several days—they show up at these sites and demand that residents come out from their tents, cardboard boxes, or other make-shift residences, gather their belongings, and leave.
These sweeps do nothing to solve the root causes of homelessness…In fact, they often create barriers to housing for encampment residents. When a sweep occurs, belongings are inevitably thrown away, no matter what precautions are taken. There is no getting around this fact.
A solution? Calls are being made for a Bill of Rights that enshrine protections helping transient populations live in safer conditions and could make it easier for them to keep a roof over their heads. Similar measures have been helpful elsewhere.
Chicago passed a Homeless Bill of Rights (HBOR) ordinance that prohibits government discrimination against people experiencing homelessness. According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, this includes “the requirement that the property belonging to a homeless person be treated the same as that of a person who is stably housed.” Since it was passed, advocates have brought several lawsuits against the city after its employees threw away the belongings of unhoused people without sufficient notice.
Given HBOR’s success in the Windy City, it is hard to find a compelling reason why similar protections shouldn’t be adopted in Philadelphia. There are economic reasons of course —it is usually cheaper to just house people rather than keep them out on the streets — but to just see the matter in dollars and cents misses the human component of leaving people out in the heat and rain when things could be otherwise. Homeless people aren’t just drug addicts (and for those that are, they are just as deserving of compassion and common decency as everyone else). Children, women on hard times, the mentally ill, people reeling from COVID that have been dealt bad hands without family and friends to live on — their lives are rarely made better by the threat of raids and the other consequences of transitory living. What good is the law if it doesn’t protect everyone, including those of us on hard times?
As long as Philadelphia fails to adequately invest in low-income and supportive housing, homelessness and encampments will persist. Until then, a Homeless Bill of Rights is needed to protect the rights of people living in encampments. It is time for City Council to step up and pass such a law.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Phila. City Council Should Pass a Bill of Rights for People Experiencing Homelessness [Law.com]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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