Law enforcement agencies across the United States are more and more involved in responding to homelessness. Calls for service involving people who are unhoused, especially those who are chronically homeless, take up a great deal of officer time and agency resources. But being homeless is not a crime. This fact means homelessness is not, at its core, a law enforcement issue.
Homelessness is a complex social problem. It is shaped by housing costs, health care systems, job markets, and social safety nets. These are systems that law enforcement agencies do not control. For this reason, law enforcement agencies should not lead a community’s response to homelessness. Instead, they should be one part of a larger, shared response. They are most effective when they work closely with local partners to address the problem together.
Because law enforcement officers are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, they often become the default responders to homelessness. However, they are rarely the best equipped to lead a full response. Law enforcement agencies should have a seat at the table, but they should not sit at the head of it. Strong responses require many partners, shaped by local needs. These partners often include other government agencies, housing providers, mental health professionals, public health agencies, outreach workers, researchers, and people with lived experience of homelessness. Law enforcement officers play an important role, but that role works best when it is supportive, strategic, and collaborative—not punitive or isolated.
There are links to documents at the bottom of this Blog. Read more HERE
Tag: Homelessness
A Bad Case for Free Buses
The New York Times whiffs on defending Zohran Mamdani’s pet program.
— Read on www.city-journal.org/article/free-buses-new-york-times-zohran-mamdani
Vital City | What To Do (and Not To Do) About People in Crisis on Streets and Subways
How can the toughest problems of urban life be addressed in a serious, sustained way? The purpose of this series, which began with “What To Do (and Not To Do) About Subway Safety” and will continue with installments on disorder, policing and other topics, is to deliver to policymakers the best ideas distilled into steps that can be taken now and longterm changes that must undergird sustained achievement.
— Read on www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/what-to-do-about-people-in-crisis-on-streets-and-subways
Did prison just replace mental hospitals?
Deconstructing a statistical myth
— Read on www.slowboring.com/p/did-prison-just-replace-mental-hospitals
Newsom to cities: Make certain homeless encampments illegal – CalMatters
In his latest push to crack down on encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants cities to make homeless Californians move every three days.
— Read on calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/05/newsom-encampment-sweep-ordinance/
Different Encampments, Same Police | The New Republic
To clear universities of student protesters, administrators and police borrowed from a ready-made political playbook: sweeping the homeless.
— Read on newrepublic.com/article/185368/gaza-student-protests-homeless-encampments-police
“You Have to Move!”: The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles | HRW
The 337-page report, “‘You Have to Move!’ The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles,” documents the experiences of people living on the streets and in vehicles, temporary shelters, and parks in Los Angeles, as they struggle to survive while facing criminalization and governmental failures to prioritize eviction prevention or access to permanent housing. Law enforcement and sanitation “sweeps” force unhoused people out of public view, often wasting resources on temporary shelter and punishments that do not address the underlying needs. Tens of thousands of people are living in the streets of Los Angeles; death rates among the unhoused have skyrocketed.
— Read on www.hrw.org/report/2024/08/14/you-have-move/cruel-and-ineffective-criminalization-unhoused-people-los-angeles
Get the report HERE
You Have to Move: The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles
Study investigates how policing impacts the homeless
People who are homeless often endure constant and intrusive police interactions, leaving them feeling intimidated, harassed and stigmatized, a new study finds.
— Read on phys.org/news/2024-08-policing-impacts-homeless.html
Future of Policing 