Homelessness in Miami, Fla., could soon become a crime if city commissioners get their way.
Commissioners are attempting to roll back provisions instituted in the 1960s that protected the city’s homeless from habitual arrest, opening the door to arrests for blocking sidewalks and cooking food in public areas.
At the heart of the petition is the 1998 Pottinger v. City of Miami case, in which the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of 6,000 homeless people, sued the city for treating homelessness as a crime.
The plaintiffs argued that the arrest of homeless people for “basic activities of daily living” violated the Eighth Amendment. The plaintiffs’ case rested on the argument that homeless people were not in that position by choice, which made punishment “cruel and unusual.”
The circuit court ruled in favor of Miami’s homeless. Now commissioners are requesting the court reconsider and allow police to arrest the 351 recorded homeless people for “crimes” that could be as minor as sitting on a sidewalk.
“As you all know things have changed in Miami,” Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff told the Florida Watchdog, adding that the city’s homeless had caused a chronic problem throughout the city.
Commissioners are aiming to crack down on the city’s homeless population by petitioning the courts to redefine “life-sustaining activities” in a way that does not include cooking a meal with fire in public, urinating in public and blocking a sidewalk. Littering and lewd conduct are also included in the petition.
The question at the heart of the matter is whether the city is attempting to drive out the homeless population.
“We are here to explain to people what the Pottinger lawsuit is about and why this settlement is important for protecting the underprivileged,” ACLU lawyer Benjamin Waxman told Florida Watchdog. “I think what bothers them is their presence, because they are trying to project the image of Miami as a center of international travel and business, and they see the homeless as interfering with their intentions.
Not everyone doing business in the city is taking the approach city commissioners seek. Some businesses are putting up meters that collect money for homeless programs, aiming to help the population rather than dealing with them through arrest. All donations collected through the meters go directly to the Homeless Trust, a local government agency that provides housing and services to homeless people.
According to a July Florida Watchdog report, roughly $12,000 was raised in seven months through the meters. That was when it first began. Since then, there have been ups and downs, but Homeless Trust is optimistic about the long-term success of the program.