End Homelessness

As St. Petersburg Bowl Approaches, City Tells Homeless to Shove Off. Again.

by Noah Jennings

categories: Criminalization of the Homeless, Government AntiHomelessness Programs

Published December 03, 2009 @ 11:26AM PT

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The sports world is abuzz with speculation about what college football teams will play in the approximately gazillion bowls games the NCAA offers up in lieu of a logical playoff format. If that made no sense to you, don't worry- you're still reading the End Homelessness blog. No need to care about sports here. Unless it becomes readily apparent that the approach of a nearly-major sporting event involves the enforcement of laws that specifically target the homeless.

In St. Petersburgh, Florida, police are making all the usual preparations for their eponymous bowl game slated for December 19th. It's what you'd expect: tidying the streets, preparing for large crowds, and threatening to take the belongings of any homeless cluttering the sidewalks. It doesn't take a genius to notice that this isn't exactly an invitation to stick around. According to Wednesday's Tampa Tribune, "Authorities are poised to confiscate the belongings of a group of homeless people camped outside the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen or at least those belongings the homeless can't carry off on their own." At time of this writing, official deadline for the removal of these belongings was 10:45 PM Wednesday. No word yet on what the extent of this removal is, or possible consequences for the people who have nowhere else to keep their things.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it's happened before in St. Petersburg, a city whose law enforcement officials are famous for slashing the tents of the homeless in a 2007 video on YouTube. Last May, homeless in St. Petersburg filed suit against the city for the passage of 6 ordinances that effectively criminalize homelessness in the region. At issue is whether it's constitutional for a legislative body to pass laws that disproportionately target one segment of the population. Our Constitution's 14th Amendment offers the possibility that laws criminalizing homelessness are not compatible with a requirement for "equal protection of the law." On an international level, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' Article 7 describes a similar sentiment. But these legal niceties apparently do not apply when a mayor is faced with the task of civic beautification.

Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty said when May's suit was made public, "What has been happening in St. Petersburg over the past couple years is one of the worst examples nationally of widespread abuse of homeless persons' civil and human rights." No doubt. And Wednesday's threat of confiscation, or what might at this time be an actuality, is an example of one of these potentially unconstitutional ordinances being enforced.

Then again, I don't live in Florida. Far be it from me to judge at a distance. Maybe someone down there can explain why a bowl game takes precedence over the Constitution. While you're at it, tell me what happened to those homeless camped out in front of that soup kitchen.

Updates forthcoming.

Image courtesy of the Tampa Tribune.