NOWHERE TO GO
Homeless advocates call proposed ordinance slippery slope to criminalizing homelessness
From the ANCHORAGE PRESS (WithPermission)
by Emily Creely
May 17, 2001

Some city officials are seeking to add a new law to the books they hope will curb lawlessness in public parks; opponents, however, say the ordinance would further criminalize the homeless and have vowed a stiff fight.

Under the proposal, anyone cited for behaviors such as public inebriation, indecent exposure, or public urination in a city park, recreation area or on school grounds, would be barred from the park for 30 days. If that person did return to the park before 30 days, he or she could be charged with trespassing.

The Anchorage Assembly will take up the matter during a hearing scheduled for June 19.

"People are concerned with the safety of parks and we want to make sure they’re clean and safe," said the bill’s sponsor Assemblyman Allan Tesche. "What do you do with moms, students and kids who want to use these parks?"

Tesche cites Russian Jack as an area which has been "taken over by people that beat up or harass kids and parents."

Tesche says the public-safety committee, of which he is the chair, is proceeding carefully to ensure that all members of the public are treated fairly.

Beth Porterfield of the Alaska State Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ASCHH), was one of several homeless advocates who worked with Tesche to craft the ordinance. In addition to working with homeless clients for Homeward Bound, Porterfield spent a year of her life researching homelessness in many cities by becoming homeless herself.

In working with Tesche, Porterfield said she didn’t want to say "no, you can’t do this. We wanted to offer solutions that work."

She asserts that treating the homeless fairly and with respect does not repudiate community concerns of safe and clean parks for families.

Porterfield draws a distinction between the homeless and "chronic public inebriates," which are the most visible segment of the homeless population and the one most discriminated against. She says that although it is difficult to quantify, they number from 150-200 of the larger Anchorage homeless population estimated at between 1,500-9,000. Porterfield said conduct ordinances across the country are the "slippery slope" to criminalizing the homeless.

"We’re not saying it’s OK to drink in public, and we’re not advocating bad behavior in the park," Porterfield said. "We’re looking for ways to alleviate the public’s concern and help the homeless. We’ve been anticipating this for a year and we’re working to do something more proactive and less ineffective and racially profiling. It’s just not a good idea."

Porterfield asserts that preventing people from returning to a park will do nothing to deter them from unwanted behavior, that they will merely move on to another park.

"They aren’t doing this for fun, [alcoholism] is a disease and arresting them is not going to take their disease away. The homeless want safer communities and the conduct ordinance won’t do that."

Additionally, Porterfield said that all of the restrictions cited in the ordinance, such as public alcohol consumption and indecent exposure, are already in the criminal code so it is unclear what this ordinance is expected to accomplish.

"The ordinance would penalize and target homeless people," Porterfield said.

Perhaps no one knows this better than Dennis Anderson, who until 21 months ago was homeless. Since entering the Homeward Bound program, Anderson has been in recovery and is now on the board of the ASCHH and the advisory board of the Community Services Patrol. Andersen said had he been barred from a city park, it wouldn’t have deterred him from drinking.

"All the ordinances in the world won’t help — it’s just like cleaning the same room over and over. You get kicked out of one corner, you go to the next, you get kicked out of that corner, you move to the next."

Anderson says outreach is the only solution that works to get inebriates off the streets. Programs such as Homeward Bound program, a two-year, self-paced alcohol management program, rely on multiple outreach efforts to get someone into the program.

"It took me seven programs to get the message, and all the ordinances in the world wouldn’t help with that," Andersen said. "I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for outreach."

Porterfield says Tesche largely kept his promise to work with homeless advocates and address their concerns. He pulled out an anti-camping section and allowed three late amendments to the conduct ordinance. One amendment allows for an annual review for the ordinance. Another would create a map showing areas where the ordinance could be enforced.

The third amendment would establish a mandatory 20-hour outreach training for those coming into contact with the homeless.

Porterfield says despite "all this hard work," she and other homeless advocates will fight Tesche’s proposal for the assemblyman’s unwillingness to drop language which charges those who have nowhere to go with criminal trespass.

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