ProPublica: What I Learned Reporting in Cities That Take Belongings From Homeless People

[Dennis Donovan]

ProPublica - What I Learned Reporting in Cities That Take Belongings From Homeless People

Some cities take people’s belongings — ignoring their own policies and court orders — and then fail to store them. Our reporting shows there are more effective and compassionate ways to deal with homeless encampments.

by Nicole Santa Cruz
Dec. 27, 5:05 a.m. EST

On a May afternoon, Teresa Stratton sat on her walker near a freeway in Portland, Oregon, talking about how much she wanted to live inside. She missed sleeping uninterrupted in a bed and having running water.

When you live outside, “the dirt embeds in your skin,” the 61-year-old said. “You have to pick it out, because it just doesn’t come out anymore.”

Living inside would also mean no longer having her belongings repeatedly confiscated by crews the city hires to clear encampments. These encounters, commonly known as “sweeps,” are the “biggest letdown in the world,” she said, noting that she lost the ashes of her late husband to a sweep.

Over the past year, my colleagues Ruth Talbot, Asia Fields, Maya Miller and I have investigated how cities have sometimes ignored their own policies and court orders, which has resulted in them taking homeless people’s belongings during encampment clearings. We also found that some cities have failed to store the property so it could be returned. People told us about local governments taking everything from tents and sleeping bags to journals, pictures and mementos. Even when cities are ordered to stop seizing belongings and to provide storage for the property they take, we found that people are rarely reunited with their possessions.

The losses are traumatizing, can worsen health outcomes, and can make it harder for people like Stratton to find stability and get back inside.

/snip

An injustice added to heartbreaking tragedy...

[ck4829]

1. "there are more effective and compassionate ways" - of course there are

Society's not looking for effective and compassionate ways to deal with homeless encampments though.

[erronis]

2. Additional reporting from Propublica - heart-wrenching

https://projects.propublica.org/impact-of-homeless-sweeps-lost-belongings/

A record number of Americans are living outside. Cities have responded by removing encampments from public spaces, a practice commonly referred to as “sweeps.” In the process, workers often take people’s belongings — including important documents, survival gear and irreplaceable mementos.
Over and over, people across the country told ProPublica they were devastated by such losses. We gave them notecards so they could explain in their own words how the sweeps have affected them.
Here are some of their stories.

A collage of items people told ProPublica they lost, including a cooler, a guitar, family photos, and medication.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[Magoo48]

4. Extraction Capitalism is a relentless engine which feeds upon the commodification of humanity.

Folks who can’t maintain the pace become, for whatever reason, become waste blown to the side of the tracks.

[wnylib]

6. We lose much when we do not help to restore these people.

The stereotypes of them as addicts, criminals, and "lazy bums" are so inaccurate. I'm sure that there are addicts among them, and that some of them have records or have learned to steal from necessity.

But many are people who once held good jobs, and have useful skills and talents. They can become homeless due to high costs of rent, layoffs during company downsizing that left them without enough money to keep up with rent or mortgage payments. They can become homeless due to illness and medical costs, with liens on their property.

Or, what was once a good job became obsolete and they could not afford retraining. Or they are women fleeing a bad home situation. They might have jobs but not enough money from them to rent a place to live. Eventually, without water for bathing, or money for laundromats, or enough sleep on the streets, they can't maintain their jobs any more and end up worse.

Some are families with children, living in cars.

Some things might help. Addiction treatment for those who need it. Counseling for trauma on the streets or from before then. Public places to bathe and clean their clothes. Low cost housing and help getting into it. Round the clock shelters instead of just overnight ones on cold nights in winter. Donations of toiletries, food, and clothing. Repurposing of empty, abandoned buildings like malls and churches.

But what is most needed is the public will to give a damn.

[Magoo48]

7. Unfortunately, your last sentence summed up the situation.

[JMCKUSICK]

5. We have turned the poor and homeless into another Them.

It's tragic that this kind of reporting creates enough outrage.....to do nothing. What happened to the rights of people? What happened to love your fellow man/woman? How many of us would vote against low income housing if it was designated to be in our neighborhoods?
There are areas in this country where the waiting list is more than 3 years long. Three years for a chance to get off the street, out of a shelter, a safe bed to lay their head down at night.
Something most of us take for granted.