Nation’s homeless crisis sparks a partisan battle
AUSTIN, TEXAS» Christopher Paul hasn’t felt a police officer tapping at his foot in more than a month — the tap, tap, tap that usually meant he was about to get another citation he was never going to pay.
Living on the streets for five years after he lost his graphic-design job, Paul has been having undisturbed nights since the City Council and mayor eased restrictions on “public camping” this summer, a move that liberal lawmakers billed as a humane and pragmatic reform of the criminal-justice system. But the change has drawn the ire of Republicans and local business owners who decry it as a threat to public safety and the local economy, exposing a partisan clash over how to manage poverty and affordable housing in America’s cities.
Since Austin’s public-camping ban was relaxed, “people can sleep much better in the open, and they are a lot safer than somewhere hiding in a back alley,” said Paul, who estimates that he received 20 citations for illegal camping before the rule change went into effect July 1.
But as Paul, 50, sprawled out shirtless on the sidewalk on a 100-degree day, shop owner Craig Staley stood a few feet away on Congress Avenue reconsidering his party affiliation.
“I got two emails last month from customers who said, ‘I can’t go to your store anymore because it smells like urine,’ ” said Staley, who operates Royal Blue Grocery. “I am a Democrat at heart; I have been in Austin, Texas, for over 30 years. But I am telling you, I am feeling a lot more red these days when it comes to my business.”
With an estimated 2,200 homeless adults sleeping on sidewalks and in makeshift tent cities, Austin has become the latest flash point in the national debate over whether homeless residents have a constitutional right to sleep on public streets, particularly in cities grappling with crowded shelters.
As a legal matter, the issue could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The city of Boise, Idaho, plans to appeal a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which applies in nine Western states. The ruling determined that criminalizing public sleeping is unconstitutional when there is inadequate shelter space.
Meanwhile, Republicans have made the nation’s growing homeless population a political weapon, characterizing it as a failure of liberal policies.
“Look at Los Angeles with the tents and the horrible, horrible conditions,” President Donald Trump said at a Cincinnati rally this month. “Look at San Francisco; look at some of your other cities.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, when asked about Trump’s recent comments, said that Democratic policies have fueled the economic resurgence of U.S. cities that has caused a short-term increase in homelessness. California has the