Criminalization Of Homelessness

Is The Criminalization of The Homeless Getting Worse in Present Day Conditions?

Introduction
Is the criminalization of the homeless getting worse in present day conditions? Homelessness in the United States dates back to the founding of our country in the 18th century, and continues to exist today. Not having a home is an issue that dates back as far as when the first settlers arrived. Back then, what made up most of the population of the homeless were the slaves or the very poor. Today the homeless have much more of a struggle in comparison to the past for many reasons such as being kicked out of areas; because of them having no choice but to “loiter” due to not having a place to sleep for the night. The homeless were allowed to live

Without a place to stay at night, the homeless have to sleep in parks or in other residential areas where they get criminalized for “loitering”. Overcrowding can be seen as the root of the problem in the criminalization of the homeless; the homeless find themselves in parks or in public bathrooms where they get criminalized for supposed illegal activity. Furthermore the numbers of the homeless are growing because of the loss of jobs and homes; reported by Bobbie Ibarra from Huffington Post. Ibarra says how today people become homeless when they suddenly fall behind in their rent or mortgage payments due to a medical or economic emergency, and find themselves unable to catch up because wages today are often not sufficient to meet basic needs. With the homeless population growing increasingly and shelters being overcrowded it leaves very few options for the homeless. A statistic from the CoalitionfortheHomeless.org shows that the numbers of the homeless that sleep in New York City shelters for the night are growing increasingly. In January of 2017 the statistic shows 62,692 homeless that spend the night in NYC shelters. The need for more shelters are important as it helps relieve the crisis of criminalization by getting them off of the streets for the night or for the day, but according to the statistics overcrowding is a growing issue. In the 1600s as

The low toleration for the homeless American society has is the root of the problem due to it alienating them from our society when in reality they are normal people. Media and society tells us that the homeless are dirty, unsafe and are not to be trusted. Truthfully this mentality or idea we have fixed in our brains is the main cause for their criminalization. A reason for their criminalization is because of their status in our society and how we look down on them for it , mentioned by The Guardian. For example businesses will have a homeless person physically removed for reasons such as creating an unsafe business environment or for other reasons such as being dirty or even loitering. An article from The Age talks about how the sight of the homeless camped in the city of Melbourne is damaging their tourism reputation; is what residents and business operators say, who have demanded the homeless be moved from public view. Our society is not completely cold towards the homeless as there are many organizations and movements that strive to better their livelihoods. However, what is mainly done to better their lives is not enough as the issue is of a large scale. Society mainly gives the homeless a “bad” image as shown by their harsh treatment from the police and the public. This “bad” image can be dated back