May 2007
STREETVIBES
Cover Story - Homeless Individuals and the Justice System by Lynne Ausman The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless conducted research regarding homeless individuals, the crimes they are charged with, and the severity of the offenses. All public records for October 1, 2005 through October 31, 2006 were obtained and cross referenced with prior public records. The results were shocking. The Hamilton County Jails have a revolving door for homeless individuals. They enter homeless, they exit homeless. This constant cycle creates barriers for homeless individuals in obtaining housing, entering substance abuse treatment, treatment for physical illness or mental illness, finding permanent employment, and accessing other services. Our focus group is comprised of 53 individuals who had given a
“homeless address” and had been arrested five or more times between October 1, 2005 and October 31, 2006. A “homeless address” is any address which was provided as a home address during the time of arrest and is the address of a social service agency which provides services to homeless individuals. We determined that these 53 individuals were more likely to be chronically homeless than other individuals who gave a “homeless address.” There were 792 charges against the focus group. Chronic homelessness is defined by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development as “an unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition that has been homeless for more than a year or has had more than four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.” The average number of times each individual in the focus group had
Graph 1: Percentage of Time a Homeless Address Was Given
Graph : 2 Classification of Charges of Homeless individuals
MM = Minor Misdemeanor M = Misdemeanor F = Felony Numbers indicate degree
been arrested is 12. The number of times arrested ranges from 6 to 43 times in the thirteen month time frame. Those who did not give a homeless address every time they were arrested may not have been homeless at the time of that arrest or they may have provided the address of a friend or relative. However, the fact that almost 60% of these individuals gave a homeless address 80% of the time. This more clearly implies that these individuals are most likely to be homeless, formerly homeless, or at a high risk of becoming homeless. 34% of those in the focus group provided a homeless address every time they were arrested or 100% of the time. Please see Graph 1. Homeless individuals commit a large range of crimes. While sometimes these are serious crimes, the vast majority of the crimes committed are low level, non-violent crimes. Over 75% of all of the
charges against the 53 individuals in our focus group were between a minor misdemeanor and a fourth degree misdemeanor. Less than 2% of the charges were felonies. Many of these crimes are quality of life crimes and are only committed as a result of being homeless. These crimes include public indecency or public urination, being in a park after hours, having alcohol in a park, open containers, loitering, spitting in a public place, sitting on the sidewalk, and improper solicitation. This is sometimes called the criminalization of the homeless. Please see Graph 2. Many homeless individuals are arrested during the warmer summer months, when they are most likely outside and therefore more likely to be caught by police. Also,
JUSTICE Cont. on page 2
So-called “urban pioneers” reinvent the face of Cincinnati by Jason Haap, Guest Columnist Most of Cincinnati knows nothing about the silent campaign mounted by our City’s power brokers — the media moguls, real estate hawks, Blue Chip VIPs, and the politicians their money buys. And because most people don’t know, certain facts remain marginalized — like how Margaret Buchanan (Executive Editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer) sits on the board of 3CDC (a private corporation that has replaced the City’s planning department with for-profit gentrification). So the lap-dog media drools at the ringing of their own bells, marketing a new vision of Cincinnati that happens to include no place for the poor, the homeless, the downtrodden — anything that might
shake the consumer dream-world of a suburbanized target audience. The Corporate Landscape Consider the new jumbotron at Fountain Square. On most days, it plays cable — complete with commercial advertisements and audio accompaniment blasting through the plaza. Television is America’s quintessential escape from reality. Visitors to the renovated Square — surrounded by new paint, new plaza stones, and even a new facade to the 5/3 building — can now find escape right on Fountain Square’s jumbotron, watching advertisements for Crest White Strips, tight jeans at The GAP, and vanity packages for The Tanning Hut. This is the new center-city style, without having to pay attention to the plight of urban life.
3CDC has slowly purchased all roads to Cincinnati — at least the main thoroughfares through OTR. Systematically, buildings get new paint and new windows. Many are still empty — just think of those near Findlay Market — but they look fresh and new. This is all part of the unreality campaign brought to us by the City’s power brokers. Last year, for example, $2.6 million got channeled to 3CDC from a fund that would otherwise be used to pave the streets. If you feel annoyed by potholes this spring, thank 3CDC. And if you have wondered about the City’s budget priorities, you probably just thought about whether the City could afford to subsidize human services. No one talked about whether we should continue subsidizing corporate welfare.
When 3CDC buys occupied buildings under the condition that owners evict residents before the sale, the displacement happens mostly under cover. There are no news reports. Throw some paint on a building, and make a carpet of flowers at Fountain Square — suddenly Margaret Buchanan’s Enquirer has the exclusive story, and the politicians stump speech during re-election campaigns about how much progress the City has made. But progress, in this context, means doing whatever possible to make sure the target audience (and their suburban spending dollars) does not have to experience the discomfort of seeing poverty.
Pioneers Cont. on page 3
Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless