Criminalizing Homelessness Can Now Cost Cities Federal Money

[Ray From Cleveland]

It would make the homeless problem more severe. But it would free up *so* much money and resources for treatment and shelters. Which does both these people and the society in general far more good that putting them in a box.

Yes, treatment is the more logical and humane way to go. They don't belong in cages with brutal murderers and rapists. They have a problem, but that doesn't make them criminals.

Sorry, but when you break our laws, yes, you are a criminal.

And that's the real problem. Doing drugs shouldn't be considered a criminal act any more than consuming alcohol is. The act itself is not criminal. It may be unwise, but it's not criminal. Our Justice System needs to evolve. Non-violent drug users should not be thrown in cages in brutal prisons. That's barbaric.

So you make it legal and have many more families torn apart, more people committing suicide or overdosing, more people experimenting with narcotics because they are now legal, and then getting hooked on them?

Yup. Drug legalization does come with social costs. Most of which we're already paying.

And with the enormous resources we used to spend on enforcement, incarceration and ajudication of millions of drug cases, we can offer comprehensive drug treatment plans, public awareness campaigns, and mental health services.

And we'll eliminate pointless incarceration as the cause of millions of families torn apart. And reduce the horrific social costs of enforcement. Plus strip many of the illegal cartels of one of their primary funding sources. And reduce violence between gangs funded by drugs. And reduce violence between those gangs and police. We can also start to role back the 'war on drugs' erosion of civil liberties,

And we can tax the shit out of drugs. Plus, all those incarcerated people can actually contribute to our economy now and be taxed.

So yes, there are social costs to drug legalization. Most of which we're already paying. There are also social costs to enforcement. Most of which we don't need to pay when it comes to non-violent drug offenses.

Most of what you say is projecting. You have no documentation that your ideas would work. However we do have places like Colorado where they found their experiment is a failure.

Making pot legal didn't stop drug gangs or illegal sales. With all the taxation that takes place, illegal marijuana is just as popular as it was before. They've had increases in usage among adults and children. They've had increases in OVI's.

Nothing good came out of making pot legal in that state. In fact in many ways, it made things worse, and we haven't even given it enough time to produce definite results.

When it comes to opiate products, I have yet to see a case where rehabilitation had any long-term success. And it's not because it was bad rehab or people were poor, there are people with all the money in the world that have access to the best help such as actors and comedians. Failed.

 

[jknowgood]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

 

[danielpalos]

We could solve the social dilemma of a poverty on an at-will basis in our at-will employment States.

 

[Kosh]

Good!
Criminalizing Homelessness Can Now Cost Cities Federal Money

After arguing last month that local ordinances criminalizing people for being homeless are unconstitutional, the Obama administration will now tie federal funding to whether municipalities are cracking down on criminalization measures.

Every year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gives out $1.9 billion in grants to local Continuums of Care, public-private partnerships that tackle homelessness in a specific area. These grants are doled out in a competitive process whereby applicants must fill out a lengthy questionnaire about how they plan to use the money, as well as their current policies.

Last week, though, HUD announced that it would begin asking applicants to describe the steps they are taking to reduce the criminalization of homelessness. Ordinances that criminalize homelessness, also known as “anti-vagrancy” or “quality of life” laws, include making it illegal to sit down on a sidewalk, ask passersby for spare change, or sleep in a public place. Applicants for the federal money will have to show they are engaging with local policymakers or law enforcement about criminalization policies, as well as implementing new community plans to ensure homelessness is not criminalized. Failing to combat such ordinances will hurt a Continuum of Care’s chances of winning new funds.

The change comes after the administration filed a brief in federal court arguing that criminalization violates the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, hailed the latest move. “We welcome the federal government’s direction of tax limited dollars to the places that will most effectively use that money to address homelessness,” Foscarinis said in a statement. She also noted that HUD is giving sufficient weight to criminalization policies that the question “in many cases could be the difference between receiving funding and not.”

The Obama administration has made a pattern of connecting federal funding to desired outcomes in localities. Its signature education achievement, Race to the Top, encouraged schools across the country to raise their standards by making it a prerequisite to receive more federal funding. Obamacare ties some hospital funding to how effectively they avoid preventable infections and patient re-admissions. Homeless advocates hope that connecting HUD funding to the fight against homeless criminalization will have a similar impact.

Anyone using a far left blog site for their "facts" should not be taken seriously..

But then what do you expect from the programmed far left drones..

Hoe does the far left help the homeless? By allowing them to stay homeless..

 

[paulitician]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

 

[paulitician]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

Yep. That was the exact liberal sentiment back in the 70's when we used to commit people like the homeless. We used to institutionalize them until the liberals came along and called those institutions crime-less prisons. Then we had to unlock the doors and let them all out. They are still roaming our streets today. Thank you liberals.

 

[jasonnfree]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

So now it's a crime to hang out in public places? Oh, only if the hanging out lowers property values. Got it.

 

[jasonnfree]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

Yep. That was the exact liberal sentiment back in the 70's when we used to commit people like the homeless. We used to institutionalize them until the liberals came along and called those institutions crime-less prisons. Then we had to unlock the doors and let them all out. They are still roaming our streets today. Thank you liberals.

In California it was Reagan who turned the mentally insane loose, to camp on peoples lawns and other public places, thereby lowering property values.

 

[paulitician]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

Yep. That was the exact liberal sentiment back in the 70's when we used to commit people like the homeless. We used to institutionalize them until the liberals came along and called those institutions crime-less prisons. Then we had to unlock the doors and let them all out. They are still roaming our streets today. Thank you liberals.

Putting our poor & homeless in brutal jails isn't the solution. There has to be a better humane way.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

So now it's a crime to hang out in public places? Oh, only if the hanging out lowers property values. Got it.

That's what happens. If you have a business where homeless people are hanging around, they chase away your customers. If you are trying to lease or rent a building to a business owner, they don't want to lease property where beggars will be bothering their employees or customers.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

Yep. That was the exact liberal sentiment back in the 70's when we used to commit people like the homeless. We used to institutionalize them until the liberals came along and called those institutions crime-less prisons. Then we had to unlock the doors and let them all out. They are still roaming our streets today. Thank you liberals.

Putting our poor & homeless in brutal jails isn't the solution. There has to be a better humane way.

When you find it, let us know what it is.

 

[auditor0007]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

Please give us a few examples of those who have gone to jail so far. When you show me even one, I'll start listening.

 

[Maryland Patriot]

What kind of country makes being poor & homeless a crime?... An evil greedy one.

It's not a crime to be poor and homeless. It's a crime to hang out in public places lowering the property value of a neighborhood or area.

Imprisoning our poor & homeless is shameful. There has to be another way. Being poor & homeless shouldn't = A Cage.

Yep. That was the exact liberal sentiment back in the 70's when we used to commit people like the homeless. We used to institutionalize them until the liberals came along and called those institutions crime-less prisons. Then we had to unlock the doors and let them all out. They are still roaming our streets today. Thank you liberals.

Putting our poor & homeless in brutal jails isn't the solution. There has to be a better humane way.

you could always open up a room in your house and take a few in to care for.

 

[paulitician]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

Please give us a few examples of those who have gone to jail so far. When you show me even one, I'll start listening.

Stupid. Yeah, we know all the names of the poor & homeless in our country. And where do you think they go when the Gestapo picks em up? Think for God's sake.

 

[paulitician]

What isn't Big Brother criminalizing these days? The U.S. is a Police State now.

 

[jknowgood]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

Please give us a few examples of those who have gone to jail so far. When you show me even one, I'll start listening.

If you don't pay the IRS fine. Do you think you won't go to jail?

 

[auditor0007]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

Please give us a few examples of those who have gone to jail so far. When you show me even one, I'll start listening.

Stupid. Yeah, we know all the names of the poor & homeless in our country. And where do you think they go when the Gestapo picks em up? Think for God's sake.

What are you babbling about? Nobody is going to jail because they didn't buy health insurance.

 

[Andylusion]

What gets me is liberals say that criminalizing homelessness isn't right. But if you can't afford health insurance you could end up in jail. The liberal war on working people.

It's pretty difficult not to be able to afford health insurance considering the subsidies for lower income earners.

If you can't you can go to jail.

Please give us a few examples of those who have gone to jail so far. When you show me even one, I'll start listening.

Stupid. Yeah, we know all the names of the poor & homeless in our country. And where do you think they go when the Gestapo picks em up? Think for God's sake.

What are you babbling about? Nobody is going to jail because they didn't buy health insurance.

If I refuse to buy health care, the government will fine me $97. Correct?

If I refuse to pay the fine, the government could send me to jail. Correct?

Granted, the chances of that happening are low, because they'll first confiscate bank accounts and property. If I try and hide those assets, then I go to prison.