On my way to work this morning I saw a man "flying a sign" on the median on Franklin Avenue in Portland. "Homeless," was his message, "Please help." I felt uncomfortable. It always pains me to see our neighbors who have no home and are forced to spend nights at a local shelter or even outside. My second thought was to give a silent thanks to the man for taking the time to stand in the median with a sign reminding all of the morning commuters that homelessness exists, and it is not okay. "Flying a sign" or "panhandling" are an important expressive activity protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
That's not to say that signs on a median are a solution to homelessness. But neither is criminalizing homelessness. We can't afford to shut our eyes to the problem or sweep it out of sight. This is why the Portland City Council did the right thing Monday night in rejecting a proposed ordinance that sought to ban standing in the median. ACLU of Maine Legal Director Zach Heiden testified at the public hearing about the constitutional and policy concerns, urging the city council to reject the proposal.
Zach was quoted in the Bangor Daily News:
"I’ve talked to people who had to do that in their lives, and none of them wanted to be in that position," Heiden said. "This ordinance is going to put a significant burden on them, on their ability to do that. Even if it’s not the intent, this will be enforced disproportionately on people who are homeless."
In Zach's testimony, he noted further that:
"When we use laws or policies to target homeless people for doing the things they must do to survive, we dehumanize these members of our community, push them further into the margins, create barriers to employment and housing, and ostracize them from the very services they most need to move out of homelessness."
Proposals like the one rejected by the Portland City Council on Monday night are a nationwide trend. As a greater number of our neighbors struggle in the current economy with maintaining stable housing, there have been efforts by various municipalities to criminalize homelessness. At the ACLU of Maine, we have received reports of law enforcement targeting people experiencing homelessness with tickets for "trespass" in public parks or even incredibly, a ticket for failure to press the crosswalk button before crossing the street. Fining or putting people in jail for homelessness is counterproductive and terribly injust to our most vulnerable neighbors.
The truth is there are good programs like the housing and advocacy programs at Preble Street Resource Center that have proven success in reducing homelessness. I appeared in a video for Preble Street to educate people about how to help. Check it out. We can end homelessness. But not by criminalizing it.
