Criminalizing the homeless

Sec. 39-2. - Disturbing or removing contents of containers.

(a)

It is unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly or recklessly handle, scavenge from, disturb, or remove any contents of any bin, bag, or other container that has been placed for collection of garbage, trash or recyclable materials at the designated location for pickup by the department, or for pickup by any other public or private collection service.

(b)

It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the accused is the person who placed or caused the bin, bag or container to be placed for collection or that the accused is an agent or employee of the city.

That's the text of a Houston city ordinance that prohibits folks from digging around in someone else's trash. Now we can forget for a second that when I put something in my trash can I'm throwing it out because I don't want or need it anymore. I've put out old stuff with our recycling and there are times it's gone before I even go to bed.

The courts have used that argument to allow the police to dig through your trash can when they're looking for  something they can use against you. And it was so nice of the city council to give a blanket defense to the police. Notice that nowhere in the ordinance does it state that the agent or employee of the city has to be carrying out the duties of his or her job. Nope. It's enough that they get a paycheck signed by the City Controller every other week.

This is statute that James Kelly violated. Mr. Kelly is homeless. He was scavenging for food. Someone with the police department made the decision that what Mr. Kelly really needed was a ticket that calls for a fine between $50 and $2,000. Because that'll really solve the problem.

In response to public outcry about ticketing a homeless man for dumpster diving, city officials pointed out that the prohibition on dumpster diving is on the books (and, therefore, just had to be enforced because we just can't have laws on the books that we're not arresting or citing people for breaking). Well that's all well and good, Annise Parker.

Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, said tickets for violations of the ordinance are written only in response to complaints that garbage has been removed and left outside of trash containers. 

"I know on the face of it, it sounds very cruel," the union leader said, stressing that most police officers would not cite someone for simply taking food from a dumpster.

The homeless get in the way. They don't dress nicely. They don't look clean. They're always hustling for something or the other. They sleep all over the place. Having homeless folks on the streets is a cold splash of water in the face of those who want to promote Houston as a world-class city.

But, they're there. Some of them are mentally ill. Some of them are drug addicts. Some of them were living paycheck-to-paycheck when they lost their job. Instead of criminalizing their behavior and trying to sweep them under the rug, why don't we do something to combat the growing number of homeless folks sleeping out on the streets every night?

But doing something to help doesn't mean issuing tickets for those rummaging through the trash looking for something to eat just because there's an ordinance on the books that says you can do it. We need to be asking ourselves what are the economic and social conditions that lead to homelessness - not devising schemes to hide them away in the corners so that no one knows they're around.

The mayor's plan to rid downtown of the homeless

Well, if you can't figure out a way to resolve the homeless issue in Houston, the least you can do, Mayor Parker, is get those folks out of the way of everyone else. You know, out of sight, out of mind. The last thing you want are folks coming downtown for the various festivals in the spring to see homeless people wandering around. Might give those suburbanites the wrong idea and all.

What? You've already thought of that? You mean to tell me you've cooked up a plan to shut down the churches and charitable organizations that provide meals for the homeless?

As those guys in the Guinness commercial would say, "Brilliant!"

So let's get this straight. We're going to issue citations and hit these do-gooders with $2,000 fines if they don't get your permission before handing out the food?

Probably not to much lose with that plan. I doubt most of the homeless folks vote since you have to have an address to do that sort of thing. You figure that most of your liberal core followers will continue to drink the kool aid because you're a lesbian or because they can't be bothered to look at what you actually do rather then what you say.

There may be some citizens of our fair city who have something to say about that this afternoon at 1:30 at City Hall outside council chambers.

See also:

The proposed regulations (pp. 33-45)

Just send 'em down the road

Who'da thought there might be homeless people living in and around downtown Houston? I mean, that's just got to be a complete and total shock to anyone and everyone. That, and trash, noise and the other assorted sins of the inner city. What a horrid awakening for anyone from the suburbs or the wealthy enclaves within the city limits.

Well, the folks who paid a big ass chunk of change to move into lofts on the east end of downtown (not the, shall we say, nicest part of town) are now having to deal with the realities of urban life. I'm sure it was just an oversight of the real estate agent not to mention these things we all take for granted to the oblivious yuppies looking for the "next big thing."

Residents in East Downtown (across the freeway from the ballpark) must have been taken aback when they found out just how gritty their (supposed) yuppie wonderland was. They've banded together, however, to "take back" their neighborhood (from the people who were there long before they left the land of three-car garages). The residents have asked the city to ban homeless folks from sitting or sleeping on the sidewalks in a 220 acre area.

Councilman James Rodriguez is spearheading the effort to expand the city's "civility code" to the neighborhood in hopes of attracting new developers (and forcing the homeless to go to someone else's neighborhood -- most likely where no one has enough money to make themselves noticeable to local politicians). Mr. Rodriguez says local churches and charities who provide food for the homeless are to blame for the situation.

Under the "civility code," folks who set up camp in a neighborhood and don't leave when demanded requested by police could face fines of up to $200 - or, more likely, time in the city jail because they don't have the money to hire an attorney or pay the fine).

Laws such as these seek to criminalize the poor because they are, after all, poor. How about we look to address the real problems underlying homelessness in this country? We need to find a way to provide access to medical services, including mental health care, for the poor. We need to figure out how to provide these men and women with a source of income and a bed to sleep in. We need to address structural unemployment in this country.

The City of Houston and Harris County gladly pony up money to help billionaires build private playhouses for their sports franchises. The city will gladly declare eminent domain over property whose owners won't sell for the price developers are offering. As a nation we seem to have no problem burning billions of dollars a year to send young Americans to their deaths to satisfy the ego of whomever sits in the White House. We seem to have no problem criminalizing more and more types of behavior and putting more and more people under the supervision of the courts.

And, instead of trying to find a solution to a problem, we just want to pack it up and send it down the road a bit so someone else can be bothered.

Giving attorneys a (really) bad name

Harry C. Arthur, a Houston attorney, has filed suit against a church-run organization that provides meals and other amenities for the homeless, seeking to shut down their outreach program. Mr. Arthur complains that the homeless who congregate near the Beacon's site in downtown Houston are a nuisance to area businesses and he wants the organization the provides services to the homeless shut down.

Maybe Mr. Arthur doesn't realize that shutting down the Beacon won't cure Houston's homeless problem -- it will only move it elsewhere. Maybe he doesn't want to be reminded of the great disparity of wealth we see in this country, or maybe he doesn't want to have to think about the toll alcohol and illegal drugs have taken on our population.

It's more than a bit unseemly that we have no problem building playpens for the wealthy (i.e. Minute Maid Park, the Toyota Center and Reliant Stadium) but no one wants to spend the money to ease the homeless situation in this city.

Now how come New York got all the attorneys and New Jersey got the toxic waste sites?