The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

• Thirty-nine percent prohibit living in vehicles.
• Forty-seven percent prohibit sitting and lying down in particular public places.
• Twenty-seven percent prohibit panhandling citywide, and 61% prohibit
panhandling in particular public places.
• Thirty-two percent have citywide prohibitions on loitering, loafing, and vagrancy,
and 54% have similar prohibitions for specific public places.
The prevalence of these laws, particularly citywide prohibitions, have dramatically
increased over the past 10 years. Since 2006, citywide bans on loitering, loafing, and
vagrancy increased by 88%, on sitting and lying down in certain public places increased
by 52%, on panhandling grew by 43%, on camping increased by 69%, and on sleeping
in public increased by 31%.
The report recommends repealing laws that criminalize homelessness and training law
enforcement officials on how to respond to a homeless person with a mental health
crisis to reduce the likelihood of them going to jail rather than getting treatment. The
report identifies the lack of affordable housing as the key issue driving homelessness.
The report recommends strengthening tenant protections, increasing the minimum
wage, and expanding the supply of housing affordable to the lowest income
households.
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THE CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMELESSNESS:
AN EXPLAINER
Bidish Sarma, Jessica Brand | Jun 29, 2018
Most evenings, Aguirre Dick rides his bike about three miles from the streets of Waikiki
in Honolulu to the slopes of a volcano, where he sleeps. If he doesn’t make that trek, he
could be arrested. A 2014 law made it illegal to sit or lie down on the public sidewalks in
Waikiki. As a result of this law, those without homes, like Aguirre, live in constant fear of
being pushed into the criminal justice system simply because they are too poor to own
or rent lodging.
In San Diego, police arrested a pregnant Alexis Leftridge as she slept in her tent and
jailed her for several days. Leftridge became homeless after losing her nursing job in
2014 — without money for rent, she was evicted. To get out of jail, she agreed to an
order to stay away from the area, but she now has so many that she does not know
where to go. According to pleadingsfiled in a lawsuit against the city, she is afraid she
will be arrested for “walking along the wrong street.” She has subsequently given birth
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