By Dan Aiello
In an interview with the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian-centric Bay Area Reporter this week, openly gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano responded to critics of his legislation aimed at decriminalizing homelessness in California ahead of its first hearing in Sacramento next month.
It's not the first time that Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, has quietly introduced controversial legislation. The bill, AB 5, is the Homeless Person's Bill of Rights and Fairness Act, and is intended to decriminalize homelessness.
But even Ammiano, who's used to criticism from religious and social conservatives, was surprised by the visceral reactions to AB 5, especially by the media.
"We anticipated some of it and I will say it was not monolithic," Ammiano told the B.A.R., but in many cases he saw what he believed to be, "a total abuse of journalistic license."
Ammiano believes the critical response from many local elected officials, law enforcement, and editorial boards was rooted in how long the issue has gone unaddressed.
"I think so many reacted the way they did because we've neglected the situation so long," he said. "Over the years many Californians have experienced bad actors – like those engaging in aggressive panhandling – and that experience has stuck with them. But the homeless are LGBT youth, they're mothers, and they're veterans, but these 'quality of life' laws have meant we don't see the population as a whole."
Many newspapers ran with the story that AB 5 was intended to allow the homeless to urinate in the streets.
"That's not what it's about," said Ammiano. "There was a lot of distortion. There will always be haters."
As chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, Ammiano said he is not seeking a reduction in quality of life for Californians, but instead an end to so-called quality of life laws that make basic human needs like sleeping, bathing, and going to the bathroom illegal.
Ammiano notes that while newspapers throughout the state sensationalized the decriminalization of public urination, few acknowledged that nearly every commercial business forbids use of restrooms to non-customers and cities lock up public restrooms at night, leaving no place for the homeless to address basic bodily functions. By passing laws against public urination, for example, communities turn homelessness into a crime for which offenders are ticketed and fined
Many newspapers ran with the story that AB 5 was intended to allow the homeless to urinate in the streets.
"That's not what it's about," said Ammiano. "There was a lot of distortion. There will always be haters."
As chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, Ammiano said he is not seeking a reduction in quality of life for Californians, but instead an end to so-called quality of life laws that make basic human needs like sleeping, bathing, and going to the bathroom illegal. He notes that while newspapers throughout the state sensationalized the decriminalization of public urination, few acknowledged that nearly every commercial business forbids use of restrooms to non-customers and cities lock up public restrooms at night, leaving no place for the homeless to address basic bodily functions. By passing laws against public urination, for example, communities turn homelessness into a crime for which offenders are ticketed and fined.
According to Shahera Hyatt with the California Homeless Youth Project, "those fines usually go unpaid and warrants are then issued for the offender."
Once introduced to the criminal justice system, "many homeless find it difficult to find a job, housing, or a way out of poverty," Hyatt told the B.A.R.
Ammiano said a main problem is that policymakers aren't addressing poverty.
"Nobody's really talking about the two Americas, those who have and those who live in poverty," said Ammiano. Although the country once embraced President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty in the 1960s, Ammiano says society now "fights wars against the poor."
Among those who would benefit most from Ammiano's proposal would be LGBT youth.
Hyatt said that her organization utilized 40 homeless or formerly homeless youth in 2008 to conduct a survey of 200 California youth who were homeless: Voices from the Street: A Survey of Homeless Youth by Their Peers, Nell Bernstein and Lisa K. Foster. Of those surveyed, 73 percent reported being encountered, questioned or harassed by local law enforcement. Five percent reported daily encounters.
"Compared to the general population, that is a lot," Hyatt said. Hyatt said that many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth, especially those who are transgender, are "re-traumatized" after being thrown out of their family homes when they encounter discrimination at faith-based shelters or from law enforcement because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Hyatt also said that homeless people suffering from drug addiction often don't have access to rehabilitation services and are also denied shelter because they are not yet clean, making them much more likely to become arrested and jailed without ever being given the opportunity to get clean and sober. Once arrested for felony drug possession, the likelihood that the individual will be able to change direction in his or her life is greatly reduced, Hyatt said.
Ammiano pointed out that while drug rehabilitation services would cost California taxpayers, it might be financially foolish not to pay for it since the expense to house a single inmate in California's prison system is $72,000 per year, far more than the price of outpatient drug rehabilitation.
Ammiano expressed similar sentiment about mental health services, saying that California's 33 prisons house many who are mentally ill.
Dina Wilderson, chief of research and evaluation for Larkin Street Youth Services, said San Francisco is especially hard hit by the homeless youth issue because it "is still a destination city" for those escaping "more conservative or less tolerant" communities. Larkin Street serves around 4,000 youth, with more than 1,000 utilizing the higher education and job placement services. Although successful, Wilderson said the need is greater than they can accommodate.
Although Wilderson said her organization still needs to see AB 5's final language, "we support the idea in general."
According to Ammiano, AB 5 is based on a similar bill passed in Rhode Island intended to end chronic homelessness.
(This article first appeared this morning in the Bay Area Reporter.)
Comments