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Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space • Alabama Reflector

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2 days ago

January 27, 2025

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alabamareflector.com – Robbie Sequeira – 2025-01-27 12:01:00

Many more cities ban sleeping outside despite a lack of shelter space

by Robbie Sequeira, Alabama Reflector
January 27, 2025

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s City of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling last June allowing localities to ban outdoor camping even if there is no homeless shelter space available, roughly 150 cities in 32 states have passed or strengthened such ordinances.

Another 40 or so local bans are pending, according to data sent to Stateline by the National Homelessness Law Center. The measures vary in detail, but they typically include prohibitions on camping, sleeping or storing property on public land. Many also include buffer zones near schools, parks or businesses.

Bans often allow for steep fines and jail time. In Indio, California, for example, people caught camping illegally could face a penalty of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. The ordinance in Fresno, California, bans sitting, lying, sleeping or camping on public property anytime, anywhere, with a penalty of up to a year in jail. Elmira, New York, includes sleeping in vehicles in its camping ban.

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Housing advocates and experts anticipate the surge in camping bans to continue in 2025. Supporters of the bans argue that homeless encampments endanger nearby residents and businesses. Critics say the prohibitions will just criminalize visible street homelessness and move it somewhere else.

“The idea behind anti-camping laws is to make homelessness so uncomfortable that people won’t want to experience it. But homelessness is already incredibly uncomfortable, especially during disasters,” said Samantha Batko, a senior fellow in the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute. “Criminalizing homelessness doesn’t solve the problem — it just punishes people, makes it harder for them to find housing or jobs, and keeps them stuck in a cycle of instability.”

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California has the highest number of camping bans, with more than 40 ordinances either passed or introduced since July. It also has about 30% of the nation’s homeless individuals, followed by New York, Florida and Washington state, according to a U.S. Housing and Urban Development report to Congress in 2022.

California Democratic Gov. Newsom invested heavily in encampment clearance and housing, allocating $131 million to municipalities after the Grants Pass ruling. He also issued an executive order to cities to “urgently address homeless encampments.”

Elizabeth Funk, CEO of DignityMoves, a nonprofit that is helping California cities address unsheltered homelessness, anticipates a rise in anti-camping policies in 2025. Still, she said, the Grants Pass ruling could require cities to build more temporary shelters.

“It really is a policy decision, and we have chosen that the only valid use of taxpayer money is permanent housing. But the reality is … we can’t build our way out of this at a million dollars per unit,” said Funk. “Grants Pass removes the excuse that cities can’t act. Unsheltered homelessness is solvable — it starts with providing a roof.”

‘What do we do?’

Florida’s updated law, passed last year, requires counties and municipalities to ban sleeping or camping in public spaces such as parks, sidewalks and the state’s many beaches.

Many local governments scrambled to put local ordinances in place to comply with the law. And as of Jan. 1, residents and business owners have the right to sue municipalities if local efforts to address homelessness are deemed insufficient. The state has around 31,000 homeless residents.

The idea that the problem is such a small number of people … and no matter how much we spend on it, we’re not spending enough to actually fix it, is very frustrating.

– Gainesville, Florida, Mayor Harvey Ward

Gainesville, Florida, Mayor Harvey Ward said the state’s requirements haven’t dramatically changed the city’s response to homelessness.

Gainesville city officials noted philosophical disagreements with the state when they passed an anti-camping ordinance in December to avoid any potential legal action for noncompliance. The ordinance carries no jail time but includes a fine.

Ward said in an interview that he’s seen a major decrease in visible chronic homelessness in the city’s community plaza from a decade ago, a shift he attributes to the opening of more shelter spaces over the years.

“The good news is we don’t have 100 people a night sleeping on the community plaza anymore. I can see progress. I’m just not sure how to make that sort of leap in progress again,” said Ward, who is a registered Democrat, though the mayoral position is nonpartisan.

He said the state’s ban mandate also complicates how Gainesville and other cities respond to chronic street homelessness, especially given Florida’s bottom-tier spending on mental health services.

“The idea that the problem is such a small number of people — fewer than 1,000 chronic homeless folks in any year — and no matter how much we spend on it, we’re not spending enough to actually fix it, is very frustrating,” Ward said.

“We’ve plateaued. There are folks who, for whatever reason, either can’t be admitted to a shelter because of past issues or refuse to go. But they’re not doing anything illegal, so what do we do? How do we help someone who refuses services and isn’t breaking the law?”

‘No one chooses to sleep outside’

The rise in anti-camping ordinances after the Grants Pass ruling was a predictable outcome, even in cities that have no other options for people who don’t have homes, said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center.

“A large misconception is that people choose to experience homelessness. But no one chooses to sleep outside. People are forced into homelessness because elected officials fail to ensure safe and affordable housing,” said Rabinowitz. “The Grants Pass approach — making cities inhospitable to force people to leave — has been tried before. It’s expensive, ineffective, and only prolongs homelessness.”

Yet the approach is quickly gaining ground.

In November, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure allowing property owners to apply for reimbursements for public nuisance expenses when the government fails to enforce laws related to camping and loitering.

A Republican-led bill in Washington state — where six municipalities have passed or strengthened anti-camping ordinances since the Grants Pass ruling — would require most local governments to ban encampments near schools and parks by May 2027. It would offer grants for encampment sweeps, but also would pull funding from localities that don’t enforce the ban. The bill remains in committee.

Among the state’s cities with a ban in place is Spokane Valley, which updated its ordinance last fall. The updates include upgrading the violation of being in a city park after dark from a civil infraction to a misdemeanor, and changing the definition of “camping” to include sleeping overnight with or without camping gear.

Little has changed with enforcement in the interim months, wrote city spokesperson Jill Smith in an email to Stateline. The city also has several employees dedicated to connecting unhoused residents with services, she said, and it added a second outreach police officer in December.

Devon Kurtz, the public safety policy director at the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank, argues that camping bans are necessary to address unsafe encampments and unsheltered homelessness, and that they can be part of a system that helps reluctant individuals receive help.

In a recently published interview with the Philanthropy Roundtable, which advises conservative philanthropists, Kurtz warned that “homeless encampments are toxic environments filled with waste and trash, and are often hotbeds of crime.”

Advocates in many states are pushing back. After a successful petitioning effort by local residents, the city of Morgantown, West Virginia, will allow voters to decide in April whether to overturn a new camping ban passed last fall. As of November, the city had 28 shelter beds to serve an estimated homeless population of 150.

Do they work?

A 2024 RAND study found that policy changes — such as encampment sweeps and camping bans — in three Los Angeles neighborhoods temporarily reduced visible homelessness, but within months the unsheltered populations rose slightly in two of the communities and doubled in the third.

The survey found chronic mental and physical health issues and substance use disorders affecting more than half of respondents, with Skid Row residents being the oldest and least healthy.

Experts also argue that these laws are ineffective and costly, with a 2020 federal report finding sweeps in four cities cost $1,672 to $6,208 per unsheltered person annually.

Jeremy Ney, a data researcher who publishes the American Inequality newsletter, said that while a lack of affordable housing is a root cause of rising homelessness, responses to homelessness need to accompany policies that address other chronic barriers to stability.

“Housing alone is not enough. We also need employment, mental health, addiction and social service support systems that can ensure people stay in those homes,” Ney said.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

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Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

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Trump’s federal funding freeze leads to confusion, concern among Alabama agencies, nonprofits • Alabama Reflector

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Staff Editor

alabamareflector.com – Alander Rocha – 2025-01-28 15:13:00

Trump’s federal funding freeze leads to confusion, concern among Alabama agencies, nonprofits

by Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector
January 28, 2025

President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal assistance created confusion and concern Tuesday among state agencies and nonprofits that depend on federal money for operations.

A spokeswoman for the Alabama Medicaid Agency said Tuesday that the agency appeared to have been locked out of its federal funding portal, though it was restored later in the day. The Alabama State Department of Education said that at least some of its discretionary funding had been affected.

In a memo dated Monday, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a freeze on all federal financial assistance, including grants and loans. The move affected both state programs and nonprofits that depend on federal funding for programs.

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The United Way of Central Alabama said in a statement Tuesday that it was “carefully evaluating” what the move meant for programs it supports — “whether it’s housing for veterans experiencing homelessness, meals for homebound seniors or support for parents raising children.”

“The federal grants we receive are crucial for services we provide in the community, and without this cash flow for an undetermined amount of time, both we and our network of funded partner agencies could face significant operational risks,” the statement said. “This freeze also jeopardizes the financial security and stability of the families who depend on these much-needed community services.”

The memo also led to widespread confusion about what the freeze meant for Medicaid, a federal program serving poor and low-income Americans. In Alabama, Medicaid covered about 1 million people – nearly 20% of the population – in 2022 and paid for more than half the births in the state. The program, considered critical for health care in Alabama, gets about 73% of its funding from the federal government.

A footnote attached to the OMB memo said it should not be “construed to impact Medicare or Social Security benefits” but did not mention Medicaid.

A separate memo from OMB on Tuesday morning said “In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.” But White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday she was not certain about whether Medicaid was affected, according to ABC News. State Medicaid programs around the country reported difficulties accessing a federal funding portal.

“It is our understanding that access to the portal has been halted temporarily, and we are currently awaiting guidance from CMS,” Melanie Cleveland, a spokesperson for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, said Tuesday morning.

Later that day, Cleveland said “the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Payment Management System is now accessible.”

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, demanded in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the administration to restore access to the portal on Tuesday afternoon.

“More than 1 million Alabamians rely on Medicaid along with the providers, hospitals, & clinics that serve them. The Trump Administration needs to restore it NOW!” Sewell posted.

Eric Mackey, Alabama’ state schools superintendent, said in a statement Tuesday that they did not believe the OMB memo “affects formula-driven programs like Title I and IDEA.” Title I provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families. IDEA ensures that students with disabilities receive a free education.

“We are working closely with other state and federal agencies to secure any funds necessary to continue normal daily operations without interruption. Some discretionary grant funds will be affected,” the statement said.

A separate memo from OMB lists off the programs that will be paused temporarily while it reviews which federal spending it deems appropriate, which includes higher education grants and the Pell Grant program. The U.S. Department of Education, however, said that financial aid and student loans would not be impacted, according to CNBC.

The Appalachian Regional Commission, an economic development partnership between the federal government and states, has also been affected by the order to freeze federal dollars.

“The ARC is complying with the pause order from OMB, and we have been communicating with OMB and working to provide them with the information they need to assess ARC’s programs and grant opportunities,” said Janiene Bohannon, communications director for the Appalachian Regional Commission.

She added that until the organization “is pausing” until it learns more from the Office of Management and Budget about the next steps.The organization operates in 37 counties in Alabama, which comprises the northern part of the state, but goes as far south as Macon County.According to the list provided by OMB, the Appalachia Regional Commission has five programs affected by the order.

Just about all the programs relate to economic development, which include the Appalachian Development Highway System funding program.

Organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday ahead of the temporary pause taking effect. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday morning that he’s spoken with New York State Attorney General Letitia James about a legal challenge.

Mackey cautioned against getting distracted amid a “flurry of activity” that makes “some of our educators uneasy.”

“In short, just keep having school. Let’s stay focused on teaching and learning. I assure you that we are staying on top of the situation and will pass along information as we get updates,” Mackey said.

Ralph Chapoco contributed to this report.

This story was updated at 4:37 p.m. to reflect that the federal funding portal for the Alabama Medicaid Agency became accessible late Tuesday afternoon.

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Trump issues order prohibiting openly transgender service members in the military • Alabama Reflector

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1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Staff Editor

alabamareflector.com – Ashley Murray – 2025-01-28 13:01:00

Trump issues order prohibiting openly transgender service members in the military

by Ashley Murray, Alabama Reflector
January 28, 2025

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed orders late Monday banning openly transgender service members from the U.S. military and suppressing any diversity initiatives, including prohibiting “un-American” concepts from military educational institutions.

An executive order published just before 11 p.m. Eastern under the title “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” expressly forbids from the armed services individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria, widely recognized by medical professionals as the incongruence between a person’s sex at birth and experienced gender.

The new policy, which revokes a 2021 Biden administration order allowing transgender people to serve, cites “medical, surgical, and mental health constraints,” as well as character, as reasons to prohibit the specific population’s service.

According to the order: “Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”

Former President Joe Biden’s 2021 policy reversed Trump’s 2018 order banning openly trans military service members. A 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision temporarily upheld Trump’s ban.

Hegseth issuing directives

Trump on Monday night directed newly installed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “promptly issue directives for DoD to end invented and identification-based pronoun usage” and update department medical standards within 60 days.

The Pentagon referred all inquiries to the Defense Health Agency. The agency said Tuesday it needed more time to provide information on current statistics of transgender members of the military and health care costs.

According to a 2018 report from the Palm Center, 8,980 transgender active duty troops and 5,727 reservists served in the U.S. armed forces at the time. The California-based think tank that studied LGBTQ+ bans in the military operated from 1998 to 2022.

A Military.com report in 2021 found that from Jan. 1, 2016 to May 14, 2021, the Defense Department spent $11.58 million on psychotherapy for service members with gender dysphoria. During that time, 637 service members received hormone therapy that totaled $340,000, and 243 received surgery at the cost of $3.1 million, according to the report.

Overall discretionary defense spending in 2021 totaled $742 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Criticism of order

Numerous advocacy groups denounced Trump’s order.

SPARTA Pride, a group of transgender current and former service members, issued a statement Tuesday defending thousands of transgender troops who “currently fill critical roles in combat arms, aviation, nuclear engineering, law enforcement, and military intelligence, many requiring years of specialized training and expertise. Transgender troops have deployed to combat zones, served in high-stakes missions, and demonstrated their ability to strengthen unit cohesion and morale.”

The statement continues, “While some transgender troops do have surgery, the recovery time and cost is minimal, and is scheduled so as not to impact deployments or mission readiness (all of which is similar to a non-emergent minor knee surgery). The readiness and physical capabilities of transgender service members is not different from that of other service members.”

Members of the Congressional Equality Caucus described Trump’s order as “beyond shameful.”

“Our military has invested millions of dollars into training these brave Americans who signed up to serve their nation. Now, despite their sacrifices, President Trump is unlawfully and unconstitutionally calling for them to be kicked to the curb simply because he doesn’t like who they are,” caucus chair Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday.

Abolishing DEI offices

Under an additional directive Monday night, the president ordered Hegseth and new Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “abolish every DEI office” within their departments and any “vestiges of DEI offices, such as sub-offices, programs, elements, or initiatives established to promote a race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy, perpetuates unconstitutional discrimination, and promotes divisive concepts or gender ideology.”

DEI is shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion. The Trump administration titled the executive order “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”

Hegseth and Noem have 30 days to issue guidance on closing the offices and halting prohibited activities. They must report back to the White House on their progress in 180 days.

Among the initiatives that must cease, according to the order, are the teaching or promoting of any “divisive concepts” of race or sex at armed forces educational institutions, among other topics the order describes as “un-American.”

Last updated 11:17 a.m., Jan. 28, 2025

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Most violent crime rates have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new report shows • Alabama Reflector

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Staff Editor

alabamareflector.com – Amanda Hernández – 2025-01-28 12:01:00

Most violent crime rates have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new report shows

by Amanda Hernández, Alabama Reflector
January 28, 2025

The number of homicides across the United States declined by 16% in 2024, continuing a recent downward trajectory, according to the latest crime trends report from the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

Homicides spiked during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and crime became a central focus of President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign. Trump insisted that FBI crime data showing declines was “fake” and claimed that crime was “through the roof.” The second Trump administration is expected to adopt a tough-on-crime approach.

State legislatures nationwide also are expected to prioritize a variety of criminal justice measures this year, including prison oversight, illegal immigration, retail theft and policing standards and procedures. Polls show most Americans see crime as a significant problem, though fewer than in recent years.

Republicans plan criminal justice push in 2025 session

The Council on Criminal Justice, known as CCJ, gathers data from individual law enforcement agencies for its biannual crime trends reports, meaning the data is more recent than the FBI’s annual report. Both the think tank’s and the FBI’s reports, however, show a similar turnaround in violent crime.

In 2023, criminal homicide — which the FBI defines as murder or non-negligent manslaughter — was down by 11.6% from the previous year. It was the largest single-year decline in two decades, according to the FBI’s annual crime report published last year.

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The CCJ report shows that the downward trend appears to be continuing, with homicides in 2024 dropping by 16% compared with 2023. That drop equates to 631 fewer homicides in the 29 cities that provided data for the category, according to the council’s report.

If this decrease holds as more jurisdictions report their data to the FBI later this year, 2024 would rank among the largest single-year homicide drops since at least 1960, the start of modern record-keeping, according to the report.

A political issue

Despite the recent decline in homicides, crime remains a politically salient issue. A majority of Americans — 56% — believe that national crime has increased or consider it an “extremely” or “very” serious problem. But public concern about crime has lessened over the past year, according to Gallup’s annual crime survey.

Perceptions of crime are heavily influenced by political affiliation. The survey found that 60% of Democrats believe crime has decreased over the past year, whereas 90% of Republicans think it has increased.

Some crime experts say that media reports, political messaging and viral social media posts may exaggerate Americans’ worries about disorder, making crimes such as shoplifting and public drug use appear more prevalent than they actually are. Still, some individual cities and neighborhoods may be experiencing higher crime rates, which could further explain these concerns.

“We still have problems with crime, still have problems in the criminal justice system, and even though the crime rates are improving, we should not take our focus off crime and criminal justice,” said Ernesto Lopez, the report’s co-author and a senior research specialist with the council, in an interview with Stateline.

The council analyzed crime trends in 40 U.S. cities, although not all cities had data available for every type of offense.

Among the cities studied, 22 saw a decline in homicides last year, with Chandler, Arizona, and Little Rock, Arkansas, recording the largest decreases at 50% and 43%, respectively. Six cities experienced increases, with Colorado Springs, Colorado, leading the way with a 56% jump.

Even though the crime rates are improving, we should not take our focus off crime and criminal justice.

– Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist with the Council on Criminal Justice

When comparing homicide rates between 2019 and 2024, the council’s study sample saw a 6% decline, largely driven by cities with traditionally high homicide rates, including Baltimore and St. Louis.

Homicides are still above pre-pandemic levels in some cities, including New York City and Washington, D.C. In New York City, for example, there were 382 homicides in 2024 compared with 319 in 2019. In Washington, D.C., there were 187 homicides in 2024 and 166 in 2019.

Other crimes

The CCJ report also examined trends in other violent and property crimes, including gun assault, carjacking, motor vehicle theft and drug offenses. Most of these offenses were lower in 2024 than in 2023, with shoplifting being the only exception, showing a 14% increase. Shoplifting also was 1% higher in 2024 compared with 2019.

Researchers were surprised that shoplifting rates increased last year despite retailers taking more measures to combat it, such as locking up merchandise behind glass. Some experts say that the rise may reflect improved reporting efforts rather than an actual spike in theft.

Last year, state legislatures placed a strong emphasis on tackling retail theft, and this momentum is likely to continue into this year, with Maryland lawmakers already considering a bill aimed at addressing large-scale organized retail theft.

From 2023 to 2024, incidents of robbery dropped by 10%, carjackings fell by 32%, and motor vehicle theft decreased by 24%.

Violent crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and robbery are now below pre-pandemic levels, but aggravated assaults, gun assaults and carjackings remain higher than in 2019, according to the report.

Property crime trends over the past five years varied. Residential burglaries and larcenies decreased, while nonresidential burglaries increased. Motor vehicle thefts rose by 53%, and drug offenses fell by 28%.

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