DPD Crackdown on Homeless: Camping-Ban Enforcement Up 500 Percent

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Hey Everyone!

Camping Ban enforcement is up 500% since March. Watch these sample videos of what is happening every day now in Denver...

You cannot sweep away homelessness. We need rest. We are not "camping," we are surviving. The city can't force us into the shelters as if they were a new kind of jail. We have a right to survive. We are still demanding the Mayor call for an Immediate End to the Sweeps and the Confiscation of People's Belongings. Furthermore as a city we must... 1) Repeal the Camping Ban and Pass a Right to Survive 2) Instead of spending city money criminalizing homelessness allocate public funds for homes and underutilized public spaces for alternative housing models

http://www.westword.com/news/dpd-cra....BEIgaFrJ.dpuf

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Denver Homeless Out Loud
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For ticket informacion contact Eric at 213.228.0024 or [email protected]



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http://www.westword.com/news/dpd-cra....BEIgaFrJ.dpuf


DPD Crackdown on Homeless: Camping-Ban Enforcement Up 500 Percent

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 6:19 a.m.

By Chris Walker
Denver’s camping ban extends from streets to bridges and trails.
Denver’s camping ban extends from streets to bridges and trails.

For months, Denver has been engaged in a sustained crackdown on homeless encampments.

Since the sweeps began along Park Avenue West on March 8, homeless individuals have described being chased around the city by police officers, who cite Denver’s urban-camping-ban ordinance when prohibiting them from sleeping under cover anywhere in public spaces — including places like the South Platte River.

Now open-records data obtained by Westword through the Denver Police Department backs up their claims.

The numbers released by the department show that enforcement of the urban-camping ban in March and April of this year was up nearly 500 percent compared to enforcement over the previous 45 months.

In fact, the first four months of 2016 account for 28 percent of all camping-ban enforcement actions taken during the almost four years of the ordinance’s existence. From January through April, there were 1,972 documented cases of people approached by officers because they were in violation of the ordinance.
Click the upper right corner to expand; In March and April, 2016, the number of people contacted because of camping violations was up 500 percent as compared to the average enforcement of the 45 months prior.
EXPAND
Click the upper right corner to expand; In March and April, 2016, the number of people contacted because of camping violations was up 500 percent as compared to the average enforcement of the 45 months prior.
Denver Police Department

And yet the DPD’s data shows that actual arrests resulting from the ordinance remain low; despite a sharp spike in the total numbers of “contacted” individuals, there have been no arrests or citations for unauthorized camping in 2016.

That lends credence to claims made by Jerry Burton and Ray Lyall of Denver Homeless Out Loud (“Clean Sweep,” April 7) that officers are being instructed not to make arrests for camping violations so that Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration can point to low numbers of citations when defending the camping ban. Instead, the camping ban is chiefly enforced by verbal “move on” orders given out by police officers, its critics charge.

Using the DPD data, Westword was able to determine how many verbal “move on” orders are being used to uproot homeless individuals from temporary encampments. According to Sonny Jackson, spokesman for the DPD, a line in the data table labeled “number of people contacted” shows the monthly summation of arrests, written warnings and verbal orders documented by police. “At minimum, [those in violation] are asked to move along,” Jackson explains. “First off, they’re offered services — they’re asked if we can assist or serve them in any way. And then, if they don’t want services, it goes to the next step of asking them to move along. That’s what happens a majority of the time.”
Related Stories

Is Denver Going for a Clean Sweep of the City's Homeless?
For the homeless, "urban camping" is no picnic
Michael Hancock praises early impact of urban camping ban

The camping ban’s protocol dictates that police officers must first offer anyone they contact for violating the ban the ability to connect with services such as shelters and medical treatment. Shelter providers say they are currently at 80 percent capacity, which means shelter beds are available for anyone who wants them. Using a shelter is still a voluntary decision, however, and homeless individuals may choose not to use a shelter for any number of reasons, including concerns about their mental or physical health, claustrophobia and safety. But a police “contact” still indicates that someone has been told that they cannot stay in their current location, regardless of whether they accept offers for services.

By subtracting the number of written warnings and arrests/citations from the “number of people contacted,” it becomes clear that “move on” orders represent the vast majority of enforcement actions regarding the camping ban; according to the DPD, there have been 6,789 cases of violators who were forced to dismantle their camps since 2012 after being told to accept services or “move on.” And that number does not include those people who were given written warnings or arrests/citations.

Judging from those figures, the scope of Denver’s camping-ban enforcement is far greater than what the city acknowledges; Denver officials say there have been only seventeen arrests made under the ordinance since 2012.

On its face, Denver’s camping ban may seem innocuous in comparison to Boulder’s, which resulted in 1,767 camping-ban citations between 2010 and 2014. But considering that Denver documented over 7,000 contacts during the four years between 2012 and 2016, Denver could very well be outpacing its northern neighbor — only using verbal orders rather than arrests and citations as its primary enforcement tool.
2016 is outpacing prior years when it comes to camping ban enforcement
EXPAND
2016 is outpacing prior years when it comes to camping ban enforcement
Denver Police Department

Since its inception, Denver’s urban-camping ban has been controversial. The ACLU of Colorado and even some members of Denver’s city council, such as Paul Lopez, say that the camping ban effectively criminalizes homelessness.

There are other concerns, too, including the cost of enforcement. When council approved the camping ban in May 2012, it struck down a proposed amendment that would have required annual financial reports. “That was supposed to provide those details to us,” says Lopez, who voted against the ban in its entirety.

A similar frustration over lack of financial transparency was voiced in a report released in February by the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. While students there provided evidence that Denver had spent millions of dollars enforcing five anti-homeless ordinances since 2010, they were not able to obtain data from the city that documented the thousands of “move on” orders that have stemmed from the camping ban. So they estimated the cost of enforcing the camping ban at just $7,623 for the fifteen citations they knew of at the time of the research. “The impact is certainly higher than that,” professor Nantiya Ruan said at a presentation on the law school’s findings.

Denver Homeless Out Loud advocates say that the DPD numbers given to Westword — especially the ramped-up enforcement statistics seen in March and April — confirm what they already know from the streets. In a collective statement, the organization says:

“We are glad to now have this data, even though it simply means we now have a record of what we have already been documenting and know from experience: the massive increase in how often the police are harassing people for being poor in public. We know that the police have been given orders not to ticket or arrest people, effectively turning the camping ban into a homeless stop-and-frisk — a legal excuse to push homeless people around and try to scare them into leaving town to be homeless elsewhere.

“Defenders of the camping ban frame the conversation as connecting homeless people to services, but the community is tired of this brutal scheme of criminalization. Up until now, the police had not exposed some of the crucial data needed to really understand the impact of the ban. With this in mind, it is even more important we respond to this by demanding together as a whole community that the Mayor end the sweeps now!”

Denver and Boulder are hardly the only cities with camping bans. According to a 2014 report released by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 34 percent of the 187 cities it surveyed — including metropolises like Dallas and Miami — have a citywide ban on camping. Increasingly, though, these bans are being challenged in court. Last August, the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the issue when it filed a statement of interest in a case challenging the camping ban in Boise, Idaho. The DOJ said that bans on camping are unconstitutional; depriving someone of sleep through such actions is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Even so, the Idaho case was dismissed, with U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush observing that there was “no known citation of a homeless individual under the ordinances for camping or sleeping on public property.” Like Denver, Boise enforced its camping ban without making arrests or issuing citations, and that served to protect the city in court.

The recent sweeps in Denver have focused renewed attention on this city’s ordinance, and some council members think a Denver City Council vote on the camping ban today might produce different results than the 9-4 majority that approved the controversial measure. “It’s a different council than originally voted on the urban-camping ban,” Lopez observes.

While some council members who participated in the original vote remain — including ordinance sponsor Albus Brooks — representatives Raphael Espinoza and Wayne New, both elected in 2015, say that not only would they have voted against the ban in 2012, but they would vote to repeal it now. New says his opposition to the ban stems from a belief that the city should focus on providing housing for the homeless, not waste resources on having police officers disable encampments and then shuffle uprooted individuals around the city.

Of course, if a repeal proposal got the seven-vote majority it would need, it could still be vetoed by Hancock, since Denver has a strong-mayor system of government. Only a nine-vote super-majority could overcome a veto by the mayor. So do council members believe that Hancock would honor a seven-vote repeal of the camping ban?

“That’s a question for the Mayor’s Office,” Lopez says.

That office has not responded to Westword’s request for comment.

Below, you can read all of the camping ban enforcement data that was provided to Westword by the Denver Police Department, including breakdowns by district, ethnicity, and time of day:


Chris Walker @bikejournalist Westword Westword

©2016 Denver Westword, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Show your Pride to Support Human Rights.


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Hey Everbody!

For the past three years WRAP member organizations in California, Colorado and Oregon have fought to get our Homeless Bill of Rights - Right to Rest Act legislation introduced and heard in our respective state legislatures.

We are incredibly proud to announce that in 2017 our bill will be running in all three states simultaneously!! This is truly unprecedented.

A sweeping indictment against enforcement of local laws that clearly are (and historically have) been used to remove "certain" people from local communities.

We see 2017 as a watershed moment. Think of the discussions that will be generated, the buzz we can create, honest and thoughtful debates in local civic forums, city/town councils, media and on the streets as people learn about the enforcement practices through our law school reports, street outreach and public information requests.



If we, as a people, are ever going to learn from the Jim Crow, Anti-Okie, Ugly Laws, etc eras this will be the time.



Most importantly in all this incredible work that has been done is the accountable and legitimate leadership of poor and homeless people. With very limited resources and countless upon countless hours of "volunteered" time and effort we have all busted our asses to get this movement to this historical place.

Now more than ever we REALLY need your support!!!!




Wear a T-shirt, hang a poster (or two), display a sticker or send a postcard

– Show the world that you are a positive and meaningful contributor in moving our country and communities to a place where the human rights and dignity of ALL people are the backbone of our laws and government.




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Why We Fight!


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Hey People!

Oregon's racist past, is new again

On September 27, 2017, the City of Prineville unanimously passed an ordinance ''Excluding Certain Persons from Public Property.'' This ordinance (#1225) authorizes public service employees to ban anyone from public property who is violating a city, state or federal law, or rule of a public park. Since breaking the law will already get you arrested this law is really about arbitrary rules and regulations.

In order to ban someone, the employee must give only one verbal warning to stop the behavior before being empowered to ban the alleged perpetrator. In effect, a city employee could have someone banned from all public Prineville spaces for having a dog that disturbs any person by frequent or prolonged noise (aka barking).

During the hearing in which this ordinance was approved (public comment was not required by law), the Chief of Police, Dale Cummins, said part of the purpose of the ordinance is to be an educational tool, part of it is to be a warning tool. It is unclear what educational value is being added to public spaces. This is another enforcement tool for unjust laws already in existence.

During the hearing, Cummins addressed concerns that this ordinance was to target houseless people living outside by saying: ''If I wanted to target the homeless, I could do it with laws that are on the books right now.''

Cummins further stated that the ordinance was not intended to be punitive or ''a stick,'' but later rationalized the ordinance by saying that ''If someone uses heroin in a park, I can certainly arrest them for that, but they could be back in the park 30 minutes later.''

We know that people use heroin in private places, and those with the privilege of an indoor setting to use drugs are not subject to this exclusion from public space. If you don't have a private space and aren't allowed in Prineville's public spaces, then the effect is punitive, even if the stated intent is not.

The exclusion ordinance falls in line with a long history of classism and racism in Oregon-denying people of color and poor people the right to exist in public spaces.

Our society at-large's historic amnesia means that too many have forgotten that when Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, it was the only state in the Union with a Constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property here.

Oregon's racial exclusion laws made it illegal for black people to move to the state as late as 1926. And the Fourteenth Amendment, which gives everyone equal protection under the law and was written intending to give former slaves equal citizenship status, was not ratified in Oregon until 1973.

These laws echo Sundown Laws, Jim Crow Laws, Ugly Laws, Anti-Okie Laws, and other laws which disproportionately affect people who are least valued by capitalism. These laws all deny people the right to exist in or use public spaces based on their identities.

The effect of these laws is seen still today in Oregon, one of the top 10 states disproportionately imprisoning Black people. People of color are disproportionately unhoused and poor, so to naively assume that a law impacting public space use would not impact unhoused and therefore black/brown people disproportionately would be a willful denial of reality.

Prineville has now cemented itself as a part of Oregon's continued legacy of violating the human rights of poor, black, and brown people. Kudos, Prineville.





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Hey People!

This just in - the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) will be running the #Right2Rest Act in Oregon again this year!!

Earlier this month, WRAP (a coalition of organizations that includes Right 2 Survive, Sisters of the Road and Street Roots in Oregon) discussed the criminalization of poor and homeless communities to politicians in the Senate and the Assembly in Salem. We had a great response and left the building with new allies and supporters; excited to help us move this legislation for the second year.

The #Right2Rest Act decriminalizes sitting, sleeping, lying down, eating and resting in public space for people who have nowhere else to go to do these life-sustaining activities. While it seems that honoring everyone’s right to exist in public should be an easy win, we know from our experience moving similar legislation in Colorado and California that this will not be a simple fight.

Thank you for standing with us. Together we will continue to build our power to overturn anti-homeless laws and create a world where we can all thrive.

In the next few months we will be holding community forums, talking to folks on the streets about the ways they are being harassed, ticketed and jailed for existing while poor and teaching each other about the legislative process.

We need your help to push the state legislature to invest in poor and homeless communities by ending criminalization now. Here is how you can help!


• Invite Oregon organizers to come to your community and hold a forum to talk about criminalization and the Homeless Bill of Rights campaign.

• Participate in WRAP’s street outreach (English Street Outreach Form - Spanish Street Outreach Form)to people on the streets in your neighborhood to hear their experiences and build a collective voice around criminalization.

• Provide connections with universities who want to do research on criminalization or others who want to support moving the Right2Rest in 2017.

• Donate to WRAP or the 3 core members of WRAP (Right 2 Survive, Sisters of the Road and Street Roots)

• Provide connections with artists who want to make art to support this organizing work.
Stay tuned for updates!
In solidarity,
Oregon Homeless Bill of Rights organizers












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WRAP Street Outreach Update and more! As Dr. King said in 1964: "We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices" was true then and is still true today!


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Hey People!










Also check out:
California Street Outreach Results Fact Sheet
Oregon Street Outreach Results Fact Sheet

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Bursting at the Seams

+ YouTube Video

(Homelessness in Toronto)

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Help WRAP fight for Incarcerated Trans People's Rights


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Hey People!

Help WRAP fight for Incarcerated Trans People's Rights


Last week marked the official annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). The Transgender Day of Remembrance is meant to commemorate trans people who we have lost each year due to anti-trans violence.

At WRAP, we want to not only honor those trans people who have been murdered but also the trans and gender nonconforming people who have died this yearliving on the streets.We know that transgender people are 4 times more likely than cisgender people to make under $10,000 a year and are twice as likely to be unemployed due to discrimination. 21% of all trans women have been incarcerated and almost 50% of Black trans women have been incarcerated. The average life expectancy for a trans woman of color is 35.



Trans people are often denied access to housing, job and healthcare for being trans and are deeply and disproportionately affected by poverty and homelessness.While the numbers of trans people experiencing pre-mature death as a result of over-exposure to the elements, lack of access to basic needs, police violence and being forced to work in unsafe conditions are less publicized – we know that these are realities for all of our community members experiencing homelessness. Poverty is a queer and trans issue.





This year, WRAP is participating in the Women's Policy Institute through the Women's Foundation of California to run state legislation in California impacting the lives of women and girls.

WRAP, in partnership with the Transgender Gendervariant Intersex Justice Project, the Transgender Law Center and the St. James Infirmary, is working on moving an Incarcerated Trans People's Bill of Rights. This effort is led by currently incarcerated trans people and will ensure that trans people have access to legal name and gender marker changes while in custody to reduce barriers to housing, employment and healthcare when they arereleased.

WRAP sees this effort as critical to our work of ending the criminalization of poor and homeless people's existence by not only interrupting the state's ability to fine and arrest poor people for existing but also supporting the rights of poor people already locked up in county jails and state prisons across the country.

Stay tuned for updates as we introduce this bill in 2017! You can help ensure that this crucial work continues by making a donation to WRAP today, help us get our match from our friend!!!



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[LaborTech] One third of children in Silicon Valley are homeless while tech billionaire profits soar-Capitalism Galore


One third of children in Silicon Valley are homeless while tech billionaire profits soar-Capitalism Galore

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/home...-nap-on-buses/

RAH K. BURRIS
28 DEC 2016 AT 08:20 ET


(Photo: Shutterstock)

DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!


The cost of living in northern California is so high that children headed to school the next day must spend their nights struggling to find a place to sleep. That’s because one-third of Silicon Valley’s schoolchildren are homeless.

Nationally, children are often homeless because they run away from violence in their home or they’ve aged out of the foster-care system. In Silicon Valley’s case, the problem is the cost of living, The Guardian reports. A full 1,147 children are defined as homeless. Many of them end up mostly sharing homes with friends or family members because their parents can’t afford housing. Others live in RVs and shelters.

The most recent national data, from 2013 outlines a record level of homelessness for 2.5 million children, while another 15 million children live in poverty, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty and the American Institute of Research. That’s more than 1 in 5 children in the United States who go to bed hungry, don’t have clean clothes for school or struggle to find a place to sleep — despite record levels stock market.

In August, a housing official penned a scathing resignation letter because her family’s income wasn’t high enough to live in the very city she represents.

“After many years of trying to make it work in Palo Alto, my husband and I cannot see a way to stay in Palo Alto and raise a family here,” wrote Kate Vershov Downing.

East Palo Alto was once the epicenter for African-American and Latino communities in the area. Yet, as the tech bubble grew so employee salaries and with it the housing costs.

“Now you have Caucasians moving back into the community, you have Facebookers and Googlers and Yahooers,” Pastor Paul Bains, a local leader, told The Guardian. “That’s what’s driven the cost back up. Before, houses were rarely over $500,000. And now, can you find one under $750,000? You probably could, but it’s a rare find.”

Rent prices aren’t any better for those that can’t afford to own a home. The average one-bedroom apartment in East Palo Alto rents for more than $2,200 each month. There’s no way to afford it if a person makes $15 an hour. Add childcare at $11 an hour and it’s impossible.

The Guardian tells the story of the Chavez family — displaced after their father was injured and prevented him from working. They now live in a $1,000 RV. The main part has two beds, the refrigerator is broken so they can’t store any fresh food and windows are sealed with tape. They shower at the YMCA and use the toilet as little as possible to save space.


Some families told The Guardian that they wanted to move to cheaper real estate markets like California’s Central Valley but there are no jobs there. Even the principal of one East Palo Alto school is a 47-year-old woman who was forced to live in a home with three other educators because her income isn’t high enough to afford an apartment of her own much less a house.

“I was done with roommates in college,” she said. “Not once did I even think I would live with others unless it was a significant other.”

For those that can’t even afford an RV or a portion of an apartment, there’s what the New York Times called “Hotel 22.” It’s a bus line that runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week between San Jose and Palo Alto. Those who don’t have a place to sleep at night will pay the fare to ride the bus so they can get 90 minutes of sleep before they’re forced to get off and get back on again.

Walmart parking lots are filled with people living in cars or RVs. Makeshift shantytowns have been set up with tents and tarps among the 75 wooded acres off Interstate 101 in San Jose. It’s the largest homeless encampment in the area, AlterNet reports. In 2013, the area dropped to freezing temperatures overnight and five people didn’t make it, freezing to death on the streets of San Jose. This exists while tech companies are scoring millions in profits and venture capitalists are doling out cash to new start-ups.

The Guardian reports that Facebook has announced it is committing $18.5 million to create affordable housing in the area. Their CEO and his wife have funded programs in the area that help increase literacy and leadership training for those trying to get higher paying jobs.

You can watch a video below of the “Hotel 22” bus line:
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WRAP Members kicking it!


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Hey People!

YES! Our Bill has a Hearing Date!

Note: We apologize for the amount of emails lately, we emailed you yesterday before the bill was scheduled for a hearing. See below for hearing time and the contact information for the committee members (now included within the email.) We will confirm the time for a rally prior to the hearing soon and email you again with the rally time and location.

Colorado organizers are so excited announce that HB 17-1314, The Colorado Right to Rest Act has been introduced and has been scheduled for its first hearing in House Local Government Committee on Wednesday, April 19th at 1:30 in room 271, on the second floor of the State Capitol. We need you all to speak up!
Colorado state legislators Salazar and Melton introduce HB 17-1314 - The Colorado Right2Rest Act - for the third year. The Right2Rest Act is stronger, clearer, and more powerful! If HB 17-1314 passes this year - it will force the state of Colorado to abandon its practices of criminalizing homeless people for engaging in basic life-sustaining activities like sitting, lying, sleeping, resting and eating in public. The criminalization of rest must end if we are ever to turn the tide on our homelessness crisis.

You can read the full bill language here and you can read the main talking points here

Follow These 2 Easy Steps to TAKE ACTION!

1) Send a letter of organizational support!
Click here for a sample letter.

Please send your letter on organizational letterhead, to: [email protected] and [email protected]

2) Email and call the members of the Local Government Committee by Friday, April 14th, and urge them to support HB 17-1314 , the Colorado Right2Rest Act

James Coleman [email protected] 303-866-2909 Democrat
Tony Exum [email protected] 303-866-3069 Democrat
Matt Gray [email protected] 303-866-4667 Democrat
Steve Lebsock [email protected] 303-866-2931 Democrat
Larry Liston [email protected] 303-866-2937 Republican
Hugh McKean [email protected]co.us 303-866-2947 Republican
Clarice Navarro [email protected] 303-866-2905 Republican
Kim Ransom [email protected] 303-866-2933 Republican
Paul Rosenthal [email protected] 303-866-2910 Democrat
Jonathan Singer [email protected] 303-866-2780 Democrat
Dan Thurlow [email protected] 303-866-3068 Republican
Donald Valdez [email protected] 303-866-2916 Democrat


Sample Script:

My name is ________ and I am calling to urge you to vote YES on the Right To Rest Act. You will be hearing HB 17-1314: Colorado Right To Rest Act in the Local Government Committee. This bill provides critical civil rights protections to ALL Coloradoans that every Coloradoan is able to meet the biological need of rest.

The practice of criminalizing poor and homeless people for engaging in basic life-sustaining activities like eating, sleeping, resting, and lying is unjust, cruel and entrenches people in homelessness. HB 17-1314 will allow homeless people more time and energy to access services, search for employment and apply for housing that would otherwise be spent responding to police harassment, tickets, courts and jail time. Please vote YES on HB 17-1314: the Colorado Right To Rest Act!

Right now, as we write, 3 people are on trial in the City and County of Denver - defending their right to survive in public space. This is the first Camping Ban (more aptly called "Survival Ban") Trial in Denver's history. The time to act to end the criminalization of "certain types of people" and defend the rights of all Coloradoans is NOW!

See the camping ban in action

Onward,
The Colorado Homeless Bill of Rights Organizing Team









Oregon Committee chair refusing to schedule hearing for Right To Rest Act (HB 2215)

In spite of an unprecedented seven co-sponsors, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Jeff Barker has confirmed he will not schedule House Bill 2215 for a hearing, prior to the deadline for a vote, in the assembly Judiciary Committee.

"This is a sad day in Oregon," says Israel Bayer, Executive Director of Street Roots. "People experiencing homelessness deserve more than being swept away by the Oregon legislature and forced into isolation and criminalized for no other reason than their housing status."

The Right to Rest Act has been introduced twice in the Colorado legislature, three times in the California legislature and twice in Oregon. This will be the first time a state legislative body refused to allow it to go before a committee for a full hearing of the issues and a vote of the members.

Representative Barker's decision to not hold a hearing, and allow a vote on HB 2215, is eerily reminiscent of local governments trying to make poor and homeless people disappear from sight in local communities.

The Right to Rest Act aims to end the criminalization of rest and accompanying violations of basic human and civil rights for all people. This legislation protects the following rights and prohibits the enforcement of any local laws that violate these rights:

Right to move freely, rest, sleep and be protected in a public space.
Right to rest in public spaces and protect oneself from the elements in a non-obstructive manner
Right to reasonable expectation of privacy of your property in public space
Right to occupy a legally parked vehicle.
Right to share food and eat in public.
The Right to Rest Act would not affect localities' ability to enforce laws against such things as trespassing on private property, littering, or obstructing passageways. It would simply end the practice of criminalizing people for the simple acts of resting or sharing food in public listed in the bill.

Homelessness, and the criminalization thereof, are of statewide concern. As local jurisdictions are increasingly passing and enforcing such unconstitutional ordinances and rules against necessary rest, a state law is needed to prevent such occurrences.

The harsh reality is that local communities don't have an answer for what to do for thousands of people experiencing homelessness throughout our state. It's unacceptable to maintain laws that punish people for nothing more than their existence.

Unfortunately, Oregon has a long, documented history of local communities passing and discriminatorily enforcing ordinances to remove "certain" people from their towns.

According to the newly released ACLU of Oregon report, "Decriminalizing Homelessness: Why Right to Rest Legislation is the High Road For Oregon," - there is an entire legal infrastructure in Oregon that makes meeting basic survival illegal in public spaces.

The report analyzed local laws in 69 cities throughout Oregon and found that 225 laws that create clear barriers to performing life sustaining activities and legalize unfair and harmful treatment of unhoused communities.

More so, the report outlines that beyond the approximately 125 laws that outlaw some form of sleeping in public spaces throughout Oregon - restrictions extend beyond simply sleeping. For those individuals that have access to the security of a car, bus, trailer or RV - sleeping may still be a crime. Thirty-one cities in Oregon restrict sleeping in one's vehicle even if it's in normal parking place and posing no safety hazard.

With Oregon's $1.6 billion budget deficit, and massive federal and state budget cuts to housing and human services being planned (Trump administration has called for 6.6 Billion in HUD budget alone), this legislation is more important than ever.

The solution to homelessness is simple - it's housing. Unfortunately, thousands of people remain without a safe place to call home in Oregon and therefore must conduct their survival activities in public space. We must work collectively to end the criminalization of homelessness and create the necessary affordable housing in our community.

"At the end of the day, this bill deserves a hearing," says Paul Boden, Director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project. "The practice of law-enforcement targeting people experiencing homelessness has to be stopped. These laws have to become a part of the past. People's lives are depending on it."

Press contacts:
Paul Boden, Western Regional Advocacy Project, 415.430.7358
Karissa Moden, Sisters Of The Road, 503-222-5694 ext. 119
Ibrahim Mubarak, Right 2 Survive, 503.839.9992
Israel Bayer, Street Roots, 503.228.5657


SB 310 - the Name and Dignity Act for Incarcerated Trans People got out of its first committee in a 5-2 vote!!!

We are beyond excited that our bill will continue through the Senate to the Judiciary committee on April 18th @ 1:30 in room #112 in the California state capitol.

Woods Ervin, Policy Director and KellyLou Densmore, Legal Director - both from the Transgender Gendervariant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) - testified in support of the bill and about 25 community members were there to voice their support for SB 310. Only 1 person voiced opposition for the bill from the California sheriff's association.

"Transgender people face daily violence while incarcerated and misgendering trans people is itself violence" said Woods Ervin, Policy Director at the TGI Justice Project in the committee hearing.

If passed, SB 310 or the Name and Dignity Act for Incarcerated Trans People would make it possible for transgender prisoners to change their legal name and gender by applying through the superior courts.

With your help, we go through the Senate Public Safety committee but now we need your help to get us through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

If you work for an organization, you can use the sample support letter here: http://wraphome.org//upl/2015/02/SB3...tLetter-2.docx

If you want to voice your support as yourself - call the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them to vote YES on SB 310 on April 18th and honor the dignity of transgender prisoners.

Hannah Beth Jackson (Chair) - (916) 651-4019
John Moorlach (Co-Chair) - (916) 651-4037
Joel Anderson - (916) 651-4038
Robert Hertzberg - (916) 651-4018
Bill Monning - (916) 651-4017
Henry Stern - (916) 651-4027
Bob Wieckowski - (916) 651-4010
Sample script:
Hi, my name is _____ and I'm from ______. I am calling to urge Senator _______ to vote YES on SB 310 - the Name and Dignity Act on April 18th in the Senate Judiciary Committee. SB 310 would make it possible for transgender prisoners to change their legal name and gender by applying through the superior courts. This bill is crucial in supporting the dignity of transgender people while they are incarcerated and breaks down many of the barriers for transgender people re-entering the community.

Love and struggle, y'all.


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