Oppression of The Homeless
Would you know what to do if you became homeless? Would you know where to go, how to stay safe, what to eat, and where to sleep, all without breaking the law? I would suggest that the answers are even more elusive than you probably imagine. For those experiencing homelessness, laws have made living increasing difficult.
Homelessness can happen unexpectedly due to factors outside of one’s control, like eviction, job loss, medical expenses and other debt, or even natural disasters. I’ve met many people for which situations like these were the case. No one ever dreams of being homeless, but even if you make all the “right” choices in life, it can still happen. What’s even more unexpected is that, when it does happen, there are laws in place that almost ensure things will get worse before they better. If we are going to have an honest perspective on how to help those experiencing homelessness, it’s important that we address the impossible situations that we, as a society, are imposing on them.
About five months ago, in June 2024, the Supreme Court made a ruling that cities have the right to ban people from sleeping and camping in public places. Laws like this have existed in many areas at the state and local level for years, but until the Supreme Court validated them with it’s ruling, there was some debate as to whether these laws were constitutional or may be classified as “cruel and unusual” punishment. The argument against the laws is that they primarily target and punish those who are homeless, (some of the most vulnerable in our society,) for doing in a public place, when they have no other place to do it, a basic, involuntary, human function needed for survival- sleeping.
The reason this ruling affects us in Temple, TX is because of a Texas state law that went in to effect in September 2021, written by Texas legislators and introduced as Texas House Bill 1925. Texas State Penal Code, Title 10, Chapter 48, Sec 48.05: “A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly camps in a public place”… “(c) The actor's intent or knowledge may be established through evidence of activities associated with sustaining a living accommodation that are conducted in a public place, including:… (5) sleeping.”
In case it’s not apparent from reading that law, if you don’t have a home or someone to let you live with them, you can’t legally sleep in Texas. If you sleep on private property, its trespassing; if you sleep in an abandoned building, it’s breaking and entering; if you sleep in a public place- in a park, at a bus stop, next to a building, in an alley… it’s “prohibited camping.” Each instance of prohibited camping is a Class C misdemeanor charge and punishable by a fine of $500. For every one of our neighbors that becomes homeless, in addition to whatever issue, tragedy, or event that caused them to have to live on the streets, they are now also able to be punished just for falling asleep- incurring debt and a criminal record, making it even harder for them to improve their situation.
If you see our police officers enforcing this law, it’s not their fault, and I would imagine they understand the futility of it more intimately than rest of us. It’s not even our city government’s fault. According to this Texas state law, cities must adhere to the ban and cannot institute any policy that “prohibits or discourages the enforcement of any public camping ban.” If this is going to change, it has to be at the state level. In Temple, we don’t currently have enough options to house everyone experiencing homelessness here. We do have an amazing emergency shelter, the Salvation Army, which has approximately 80 beds. Through their program, everyone who gets a bed is assigned a case worker who helps in finding them employment, attaining qualifying benefits and housing, addressing the needs of each person on an individual basis. Unfortunately, they are almost always at capacity, with additional people showing up every day checking for availability. For everyone who doesn’t get in, there isn’t another option.
While we do allow people sleep in our men’s and women’s day centers at Feed My Sheep during business hours to help with this issue, we sometimes get asked why we don’t let people sleep in our building overnight. After all, we have a big building, surely we could do without at least the podcast studio, right? Although we would need to make some minor changes to operations, logistics and volunteer commitments, it actually comes down to another law. Temple, TX- Unified Development Code, Article 5, Sec 5.3.12 A1: “The transitional, emergency, or social service shelter must be a minimum of 1,000 feet from the following uses:” … “(e.) Other transitional, emergency, or social service shelters.” In Temple, among other things that a shelter must be 1,000 feet from, (like residential zoned areas and places that sell alcohol,) they must also be 1,000 feet from another shelter. FMS property is 830 feet from the Salvation Army.
As you can see, even if you happen to be an incredibly wealthy person wanting to buy or donate a property as another shelter in Temple, you would have limited viable properties to choose from that would be legally acceptable. If you are a less-wealthy person thinking you could just offer your shed or a even a tent in your own backyard for a little bit of shelter to someone in need, if you’re in city limits, there is a law against that too. Temple, TX- Code of Ordinances Chapter 40, Article IV, Sec 4.2 “The following specific acts, conditions, items, and things are declared a nuisance and are unlawful; provided, however, that this list shall not be deemed or construed to be conclusive, limiting or restrictive:”… “(7) Allowing cellars, temporary tents, or sheds to be used as sleeping rooms.”
While I trust the heart behind many of these and other such laws is for the good and safety of the community, it can’t be ignored the difficulty they place on helping those experiencing homelessness, especially the Texas prohibited camping law. Laws like this only perpetuate and exacerbate the effects of homelessness. To answer the first few questions of this article for you, if you become homeless, come to Feed My Sheep; we can give you free food, laundry, a shower, help you figure out your best next steps and connect you with other useful resources. We can show you where Salvation Army is, so you can try to get a bed for the night. If you don’t get in, just don’t go to sleep.
