The Promotion of the General Welfare: Using the Spending Clause to End the Criminalization of Homelessness in America

The U.S. is experiencing a homelessness crisis. While the government claims that there are half a million people experiencing homelessness in this country, the actual number is likely much larger than that estimate. Rather than investing in long-term solutions to homelessness, most states and municipalities have responded to this crisis by criminalizing conduct related to homelessness—an expensive approach hat perpetuates the cycle of homelessness and causes many people experiencing homelessness to needlessly suffer as a result. While advocates have fought criminalization in the courts, a problem of this size and scale cannot be solved through litigation alone. This Note advocates that Congress could constitutionally end or substantially reduce the criminalization of homelessness by using the powers allocated to it in the Spending Clause. Notwithstanding the limitations the Court imposed on Congress’s spending power in recent cases such as National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, this Note argues that Congress may attach conditions to funding earmarked for or substantially related to homelessness that would require states to reduce or end criminalization within their jurisdiction. While not ultimately a solution to homelessness in the U.S., this Note advocates that only by taking criminalization policies off the table can the U.S. move towards a humane policy towards its people experiencing homelessness

Challenging Domestic Injustice Through International Human Rights Advocacy: Addressing Homelessness in The United States

This Article explores how international human rights norms and procedures can serve as a powerful tool in addressing injustice in the United States context, using work addressing the criminalization of homelessness as a case study. Moreover, it explores how civil and political rights and negative obligations by the government can serve as an entry point for asserting a more robust understanding of rights that includes social and economic rights and affirmative obligations by government. The Article documents and analyzes original work led by the National Homelessness Law Center and other pioneering advocates, reflecting on lessons learned and next steps to make the human right to housing a legal obligation in our country

The Promotion of the General Welfare: Using the Spending Clause to End the Criminalization of Homelessness in America

The U.S. is experiencing a homelessness crisis. While the government claims that there are half a million people experiencing homelessness in this country, the actual number is likely much larger than that estimate. Rather than investing in long-term solutions to homelessness, most states and municipalities have responded to this crisis by criminalizing conduct related to homelessness—an expensive approach hat perpetuates the cycle of homelessness and causes many people experiencing homelessness to needlessly suffer as a result. While advocates have fought criminalization in the courts, a problem of this size and scale cannot be solved through litigation alone. This Note advocates that Congress could constitutionally end or substantially reduce the criminalization of homelessness by using the powers allocated to it in the Spending Clause. Notwithstanding the limitations the Court imposed on Congress’s spending power in recent cases such as National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, this Note argues that Congress may attach conditions to funding earmarked for or substantially related to homelessness that would require states to reduce or end criminalization within their jurisdiction. While not ultimately a solution to homelessness in the U.S., this Note advocates that only by taking criminalization policies off the table can the U.S. move towards a humane policy towards its people experiencing homelessness

Petty Offenses Symposium Special Issue Forward: Addressing the Criminalization of Poverty and Marginalization

Ezer et al discuss the aspects of addressing the criminalization of poverty and marginalization. Across the globe and throughout the US, governments use petty offenses, such as loitering laws, to exert social control over marginalized communities. Petty offenses enable the policing of public spaces to reinforce social hierarchies and rigid gender norms. People experiencing homelessness regularly face the threat of criminal sanctions for fulfilling basic needs, and fines and fees in the justice system trap the poor in a cycle of poverty and incarceration. In September 2019, the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law hosted a symposium on challenging petty offenses that criminalize poverty, marginalization, and gender non-conformity. The symposium provided an opportunity to connect local, national, and global conversations on criminal law and social justice and to promote learning across movements and countries, bringing together leading advocates and scholars

Poor Not Guilty: An Experiential Street Law Education on the Criminalization of Poverty through Perspective-Taking

Cities and states throughout the United States impose fines for minor offenses at every stage of the criminal justice system, trapping individuals in cycles of poverty and punishment. At the same time, almost every city has laws that punish and fine people experiencing homelessness for engaging in necessary activities, such as sleeping in public. These laws are not only cruel and a violation of basic rights but also counterproductive. Two major roadblocks to ending the criminalization of poverty are a lack of awareness and empathy. A team of designers and legal experts engaged in tandem transformational game design to create Poor Not Guilty: Fines and Fees Challenges, in which players perspective-take as someone impacted by the criminalization of such petty offenses. The challenges employ storytelling and seek to generate awareness and empathy of the systemic nature of this criminalization, as part of Street Law curriculum and advocacy supporting policy change

Challenging Domestic Injustice Through International Human Rights Advocacy: Addressing Homelessness in The United States

This Article explores how international human rights norms and procedures can serve as a powerful tool in addressing injustice in the United States context, using work addressing the criminalization of homelessness as a case study. Moreover, it explores how civil and political rights and negative obligations by the government can serve as an entry point for asserting a more robust understanding of rights that includes social and economic rights and affirmative obligations by government. The Article documents and analyzes original work led by the National Homelessness Law Center and other pioneering advocates, reflecting on lessons learned and next steps to make the human right to housing a legal obligation in our country