WASHINGTON, DC-In Milwaukee, a church has been declared a public nuisance
for feeding homeless people and allowing them to sleep there. In Gainesville, police
threatened University of Florida students with arrest if they did not stop serving meals
to homeless people in a public park. In Santa Barbara, it is illegal to lean against the
front of a building or store, and no one can park a motor home on the street in one
place for more than two hours. These ordinances and activities demonstrate the in-
creasingly hostile attitude in the United States toward people who are homeless,
according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless that was released
today. This report examines occurrences since January 2002 and documents civil
rights violations perpetrated against people experiencing homelessness.
Currently, there are over two million homeless people in America. A recent congres-
sional study predicts that nearly 19 million people will face the prospects of homelessness
in America in the next 15 years. In New York City, the coalition for the homeless
estimates that 100,000 homeless live in New York State, and of that number 70,000
reside in New York City, With the highest unemployment rates in almost a decade,
more people are becoming homeless, and as the economy continues to tighten, it is
causing financial crises for shelters and service-providing agencies Though nearly all
cities still lack sufficient shelter beds and social services, many continue to pass laws
prohibiting people experiencing homelessness from sleeping outside.
Almost 70 % of the cities surveyed in the first report have passed at least one or more
new laws specifically targeting homeless people since January 2002, making it in-
creasingly difficult to survive on the streets. Further, this report finds Las Vegas, San
Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta to be the top five meanest
cities in the United states for poor and homeless people to live in ; California is the
meanest state, followed by Florida as the second meanest.