USA Today: Cities Crack Down on Homeless

Law Center Discusses Rise in Criminalization Laws

An article in Sunday's USA Today discussed the sharp rise in laws criminalizing homelessness and food-sharing by charitable groups.

Denver and Philadelphia recently adopted such measures under the guise of getting homeless persons off the street and indoors, where they could receive free meals and other services.  In reality, these laws simply make it harder for to survive.

As Law Center Civil Rights Attorney Heather Johnson remarks in the piece: "We think that criminalization measures such as these are counterproductive. Rather than address the root cause of homelessness, they perpetuate homelessness."

To read the full article, click here.

To learn more about the criminalization of homelessness, read our recent report, Criminalizing Crisis.