2y ago

Will the Supreme Court Make Life Worse for America’s Homeless?

newrepublic.com

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6878477

What few constitutional rights the homeless enjoy may soon be on the line at the high court.

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gAlienLifeform @lemmy.world

2y ago

Will the Supreme Court Make Life Worse for America’s Homeless?

newrepublic.com /article/176217/homelessness-crisis-supreme-court-petition

13 comments

Will the Supreme Court Make Life Worse for America’s Homeless?
Undoubtedly
- They’re making life worse for everybody else, so why not.
- If they don’t like it, they should get a high priced constitutional lawyer.
“Will the Supreme Court make life worse for…” can generally be assumed to have yes as an answer until some turnover happens
- Any yes or no question in the headline is assumed to be answered in the affirmative.
We spend more money and time to do the wrong thing, in all our institutionalized, crusty cruelty policies than we do to do the right thing with proven results as some of our European models (who for whatever reasons pooped the bed and moved fascist, recently) implemented successfully with documented proven results. Also we fired the Tennessee doctor who worked with the state having proven results working with people who had several ACEs and social/crimes of despair issues.
- "Whatever reason"? The reason is exactly the same as in the US: media control by oligarchs who would rather see the world destroyed than accept lower short term profit margins.
  
  Eh, bankers and corporations are the apparatus, media is the means, and yes, they’re knowingly complicit.
"about one-third of the country’s homeless population, totaling more than 170,000 people"
Whaaaat? They're saying that there is only about 500,000 homeless people in the US. That seems like a really low estimate.
- There was a John Oliver segment discussing the homeless, and the method for counting them was mentioned. Basically, they pick 1 night a year and count people occupying a bed in a shelter. This obviously discounts a huge number of the homeless population, which is thought to be as much as 10 times the shelter count.
  
  Just strolling through midtown in Atlanta, GA makes me believe that.
  The counts definitely aren’t accurate. Furthermore, some folks may technically be homeless, but couch surfing, sleeping in their vehicles, etc.
The court ruled in Martin v. City of Boise that the Eighth Amendment forbids criminal charges against people for sleeping outdoors on public property if they have nowhere else to go. The decision limited local governments’ powers to arrest and remove homeless people from public spaces.
It'll be another line-crossing point as (proverbial) Titanic sinks, maybe the power going out.
A lot of us are too close to homelessness ourselves. I've personally been lucky (other then maybe a month of sofa surfing) but I have close friends who've had to deal with hard sleeping and creative impovised protection against the elements.
This is to say, when we unperson the homeless, a lot of us are going to be wondering if we're next. And if cities start banning homless and law enforcement responds with brutality, well, hopefully we'll see some social unrest. Otherwise these new laws will be used to reduce marginalized groups to homelessness before disposing of them.
Its one of those Then they came for the trade-unionists moments, and hopefully enough of us will see it relatable enough to take action.

13 comments