With public tenting a felony, Tennessee homeless seek refuge

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Miranda Atnip misplaced her dwelling in the course of the coronavirus pandemic after her boyfriend moved out and he or she fell behind on bills. Residing in a automobile, the 34-year-old worries every single day about getting cash for food, discovering somewhere to shower, and saving up enough money for an condo where her three kids can reside with her again.

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

“Truthfully, it’s going to be arduous,” Atnip mentioned 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 growth, Sen. Paul Bailey noted that nobody has been convicted beneath that law and stated he doesn’t count on this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has labored with homeless people within the metropolis of Cookeville and supports Bailey’s plan — partly as a result of he hopes it'll spur individuals who care in regards to the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The law requires that violators obtain at the least 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 ... in the event that they need to situation a felony,” Bailey mentioned. “But it surely’s only going to come back to that if people actually don’t need to transfer.”

After a number of years of regular decline, homelessness in the USA started growing in 2017. A survey in January 2020 discovered for the primary time that the variety of unsheltered homeless folks exceeded these in shelters. The issue was exacerbated by COVID-19, with shelters limiting capacity.

Public stress to do one thing in regards to the growing number of highly seen 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 12 months. Municipalities that fail to implement the ban threat shedding state funding. Several different states have launched similar bills, however Tennessee is the only one to make camping a felony.

Bailey’s district consists of Cookeville, a metropolis of about 35,000 individuals between Nashville and Knoxville, the place the local newspaper has chronicled rising concern with the growing number of homeless people. The Herald-Citizen reported final year that complaints about panhandlers almost doubled between 2019 and 2020, from 157 to 300. In 2021, the town installed indicators encouraging residents to offer to charities as an alternative of panhandlers. And the City Council twice thought-about panhandling bans.

The Republican lawmaker acknowledges that complaints from Cookeville bought his attention. Metropolis council members have informed him that Nashville ships its homeless here, Bailey mentioned. It’s a rumor many in Cookeville have heard and Bailey appears to consider. When Nashville fenced off a downtown park for renovation not too long ago, 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 nearby Monterey when she lost her home and had to send her youngsters to stay along with her parents. She has acquired some authorities help, but not enough to get her again on her toes, she mentioned. At one point she received a housing voucher however couldn’t discover a landlord who would settle for it. She and her new husband saved sufficient to finance a used automotive and have been 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 sure where they'll pitch it.

“It seems like as soon as one thing goes improper, it type of snowballs,” Atnip said. “We were getting cash with DoorDash. Our bills were paid. We have been saving. Then the automotive goes kaput and every thing goes unhealthy.”

Eldridge, who has worked with Cookeville’s homeless for a decade, is an sudden advocate of the tenting ban. He stated he wants to proceed helping the homeless, however some individuals aren’t motivated to enhance their scenario. Some are addicted to medicine, he stated, and some are hiding from law enforcement. Eldridge estimates there are about 60 individuals dwelling outside more or less completely in Cookeville, and he knows them all.

“Most of them have been right here a number of years, and never as soon as have they asked for housing help,” he stated.

Eldridge is aware of his place is unpopular with other advocates.

“The large problem with this legislation is that it does nothing to resolve homelessness. Actually, it should make the problem worse,” said Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. “Having a felony in your record makes it hard to qualify for some types of housing, more durable to get a job, more durable to qualify for advantages.”

Not everybody wants to be in a crowded shelter with a curfew, but people will transfer off the streets given the suitable alternatives, Watts mentioned. Homelessness among U.S. army veterans, for example, has been minimize practically in half over the past decade by way of a combination of housing subsidies and social services.

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

Tina Lomax, who runs Seeds of Hope of Tennessee in nearby Sparta, was once homeless together with her youngsters. Many people are just one paycheck or one tragedy away from being on the streets, she stated. Even in her community of 5,000, inexpensive housing may be very exhausting to come by.

“In case you have a felony on your document — holy smokes!” she mentioned.

Eldridge, like Sen. Bailey, stated he doesn’t count on many individuals to be prosecuted for sleeping on public property. “I can promise, they’re not going to be out here rounding up homeless people,” he said of Cookeville regulation enforcement. But he doesn’t know what would possibly occur in other components of the state.

He hopes the new legislation will spur some of its opponents to work with him on long-term options for Cookeville’s homeless. If all of them worked together it could imply “loads of sources and doable funding sources to help those in want,” he stated.

However other advocates don’t suppose threatening people with a felony is an efficient manner to assist them.

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