Seizing Gear From the Homeless

It is counterintuitive that cities confiscate belongings from the homeless that keep them safe and warm in the winter. This decade alone, a 70 percent increase in laws banning overnight camping have enabled cities to endanger the homeless by seizing their property and thwarting their efforts to reclaim them. The death from exposure of one Los Angeles whose blanket was seized has sparked a backlash from activist groups in cities from Seattle to Honolulu. No jurisdiction should make it alright for people to die in the cold.

Seattle’s homeless population been under extreme fire from the city. The city decided that the best way to deal with the overpopulation of homeless individuals is to have “sweeps” of homeless camps. City workers come in and confiscate  everything on sight, leaving homeless with nothing left. however, homeless rights activists have put the city under fire. Calling out civil rights violations due to protocol not being totally followed, they dialed it down a bit. However, no seizing of property should be under jurisdiction, as it severely endangers the homeless.

Sweeps are also very common in San Francisco and Honolulu. In San Franscisco, city workers seized everything from beds to stove. San Francisco city workers did a sixth month raid, they only preserving 23 seized belongings. in Honolulu it gets no better, as homeless individuals reported losing medics,identification, and heir tents during sweeps. In cities all across America, city workers are performing homeless sweeps. This civil rights violation needs to end, or more people will die.

The Street Level Solution

P1. It seems counterintuitive that housing the homeless doesn’t fix the homeless problem. People become homeless for many different reasons, not just simply that they can’t afford a home. Many become homeless, due to head trauma that affects how they think and act. Anyone can receive a severe bump on the head, that creates the illness that many homeless have. These people don’t just simply need a house, they need to be put in an environment that will help them. They need to have their mental problems addressed, and fixed.If their mental problems just geth thrown to the side, and they are just given housing, many will end up right back on the street.

P3. Often, the best solution for these homeless people, with mental issues, is to be put in a community environment. There they can receive the help and support they need to overcome their issue. Many join community gardens and many take different classes. At a common ground site in New York, 188 formerly homeless people found jobs due to a community like atmosphere. Sometimes, all a homeless person needs  is shelter, but to think that the only problem is simply not having a home only feeds into the problem.

Trump Hasn’t Said much about Homelessness

P1. It seems counterintuitive that Donald Trump hasn’t said much about homelessness. He a ran his campaign largely on helping the inner city.However a large problem in the inner city is the  large amount of homeless people. He has indicated that  he wants  to cut federal programs that help the homelessness. Doing this however,  would make the inner cities worse.

P2.Homelessness has been on the steady decline as of late.This is due to the federal spending put towards housing and programs to help the homeless.Trump’s “penny plan” will yield results to the 1980 cuts. Due to those cuts in 1980, homelessness hit a crisis. Cutting homelessness programming, would actually go back on his claim of  helping the inner cities. Trump proposed cuts would only create problems, not solve them.

P3. Trump along with HUD head, Ben Carson claimed they will do anything to help the inner cities thrive again. However cutting back social programs to keep the homeless off the street is the worst possible thing to do. This will create crime and drugs, and make the cities works. Sadly it  looks like they will go through with these cuts, so many homeless shelters are preparing for the worst. Hopefully, President Trump realizes the truth of the inner city problems.

Works Cited

Smith, Laura, Marc Brünke/Creative Commons, Edwin Rios, Scott Carrier, Julia Lurie, Russ Choma, and Pema Levy. “Denver Is Hardly the Only City Seizing Homeless People’s Gear.” Mother Jones. Mother Jones, 16 Dec. 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

Bornstein, David N/A. “A Plan to Make Homelessness History.” The Opinion Pages. Opinionator, 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 25 Dec. 2017.

Rios, Edwin D. “Trump Hasn’t Said Much about Homelessness-and That’s Making a Lot of People Nervous.” Mother Jones. Mother Jones, 8 Dec. 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.