68 UnIT 10 | The story of my life Read the text about homelessness in America. Complete the sentences (1–7) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. READInG 3 The laws cities use to make homelessness a crime There’s nothing shocking, really, about Houston’s new law, which makes it easier for homeless people to be arrested simply for being homeless. Not when over 100 American cities have already changed everyday life for the homeless for the worse, making crimes of all sorts of activities from sleeping outside to brushing teeth in public. Even as cities become more socially conscious about LGBTQ1 rights and drug policies, they’ve become less tolerant of their neediest inhabitants. Instead, the police and the justice system are used in order to get rid of the ‘human trash’. Camping bans in US cities have increased and what used to be seen as annoying is now considered a crime, resulting in fines or jail time for those who certainly can’t afford it. In at least 100 US cities, it’s illegal to publicly camp and in many cities, it’s illegal to sleep in public, ask people for money or to live in cars. For extreme sports junkies (like sports climbers in Yosemite National Park, who try to live in their cars), the latter makes life difficult. For the homeless, it leaves no alternatives, especially if shelters are too far away, too full, or too violent (a common problem). Houston’s mayor Sylvester Turner’s “no public camping” law means it’s illegal to use “fabric, metal, cardboard, or other materials as a tent or temporary structure” for humans to live in. The result is that the Houstonian homeless have no protection from the weather, and they are at risk of being arrested by the police. Officials say that these measures against the homeless are to ensure neighborhood safety; however, it seems this is simply a way for people to ignore anything negative happening in their home areas. City officials in Houston claim tent cities make it easy to hide illicit2 activity such as drug taking. However, tent cities are often formed to provide some degree of protection from the elements and from other dangers. Around half of all unhoused people in the USA have experienced violence and an increasing number are being murdered on the streets. One source reports that murders of unhoused people are now 25 times more frequent than housed homicides. Additionally, laws have been passed which prevent residents from giving food to their unhoused neighbors. Volunteers with a group that has been feeding Houston’s unhoused population since 1994 are facing a possible $80,000 in fines after a crackdown by local police. The fines result from a rule which says groups must get permission from property owners, even if on public property, to distribute food to more than five people. One volunteer noted this anti-food-sharing law was just one of many which criminalize homelessness. Some positive news comes from New York City which could soon pass a “homeless bill of rights” with a “right to sleep outside” – something that no other major US city has done. Passing a bill for the right to sleep outside, while far from being an end goal, could reduce harm for unhoused people who would be able to sleep and shelter themselves without being threatened with fines or harassment. Ultimately, the more pressing question remains: How do we get people into housing, so that they aren’t on the streets in the first place? Perhaps the only real way to solve homelessness is to offer unhoused residents immediate access to permanent and affordable housing. Only then will people have the stability to address the other challenges in their lives. 1 LGBTQ: (abbr. for) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning) 2 illicit: (gesetzlich) verboten Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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