HONOLULU – Cities across the country are enacting more bans on living in vehicles, camping in public areas and panhandling, despite efforts by the federal government to discourage such laws amid a shortage in affordable housing, a new report said.
Denver, which ordered about 150 homeless people living on sidewalks to clear out their belongings Tuesday, was among four cities criticized for policies criminalizing homelessness in a report by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, an advocacy group aiming to prevent people from losing their homes.
The other cities listed in its "hall of shame" are in Hawaii, Texas and Washington state.
People in Denver chanted, "No handcuffs. Give us homes," as they packed up their belongings when police arrived. As they piled shopping carts high, a jumble of items cluttered the area: a banana, a paperback copy of Shakespeare and a pair of construction boots.
Many cities with increasing home prices have been struggling with homelessness, including Denver and Honolulu, which were reprimanded for an anti-camping law and ban on sitting or lying on sidewalks, respectfully.
"These laws are unconstitutional and bad public policy," Maria Foscarinis, the center's executive director, said in a phone call with reporters. "Homelessness remains a national crisis across the country. It's fueled by the growing lack of affordable housing and the shrinking safety net."
The laws create barriers to employment, housing and education, she said.
The report, which was based on a review of policies enacted by 187 cities over a decade, said bans on living in vehicles increased by 143 percent. Those laws can be particularly devastating because they often lead to vehicle impoundment, and people can lose all of their belongings, disrupting their ability to work or attend school, Foscarinis said.
In Denver, authorities had given notice that homeless people had to move their stuff by Tuesday. Officials wanted them to go to shelters, and the city planned to take any belongings left behind to storage.
Bennie Henley, an Army veteran who moved to Denver two weeks ago from Kansas to seek medical treatment at the Veterans Administration hospital, said he prefers to sleep on an advertising banner rolled out on the sidewalk rather than in a shelter. He showed a rash on his arm that he thinks came from bedbugs in a shelter.
"I don't like being crowded up like that," said Henley, sitting on a swivel office chair on the sidewalk and leaning on a cane.
The report said Denver forces thousands of people to dismantle camps despite a waiting list for subsidized housing.
City spokeswoman Amber Miller called the report's findings inaccurate, saying the center relied on local advocacy groups with incorrect information. She said Denver's priority is helping people find the assistance they need.
"Among the steps taken, we have increased outreach workers and paired them with police patrols, expanded day and night shelter, created 250 units of permanent supportive housing and launched a day work program," Miller said in a statement.
Honolulu was criticized for what the group called aggressive enforcement of its sit-lie ban. The group said the city has issued more than 16,000 warnings to people violating the ban since it was enacted in Waikiki in 2014.
Honolulu officials, who didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, have said the ban was necessary so people can safely use public sidewalks and because tourists and residents complained.
The report also targeted Dallas and Puyallup, Washington. Dallas was criticized for issuing thousands of citations for sleeping in public, and Puyallup, for making it illegal to camp, panhandle or sit and lie down in parts of the city, despite lacking adequate space in an emergency shelter.
Officials from those two cities didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The report called several such policies unconstitutional. The group said panhandling is protected by the right to free speech and preventing sleeping in public could be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
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Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report from Denver.
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Follow Cathy Bussewitz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbussewitz . Her work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/bussewitz .
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