A bill recently introduced by Councilman Frank DiCicco has drawn sharp criticism from advocates for the homeless.
Bill 110386, introduced May 12, would amend the “sidewalk behavior” section of the Philadelphia Code to give law enforcement more authority to arrest individuals living on the streets.
As the current law stands, before issuing a violation or taking “coercive action” against someone who is lying, sitting or obstructing a sidewalk or soliciting near a building entrance, an officer must first issue an oral warning to move, followed by a written warning — stipulations that DiCicco’s bill would remove.
DiCicco’s measure would also lift the requirement that, before taking action, officers must attempt to determine whether the person is in need of medical or social-service assistance, instead making the connection to social services contingent solely upon whether the officer determines the person is in need.
Currently, if the officer believes the person is in need of homeless-assistance services, mental-health treatment or drug and alcohol rehabilitation, the officer contacts an Outreach Team, which evaluates the individual’s needs, and the officer is not permitted to arrest the individual without the presence of an Outreach Team; in the proposed bill, that stipulation is also dropped, and the dispatch to an Outreach Team is optional.
DiCicco did not return a call for comment.
Project H.O.M.E., which provides street outreach, housing opportunities and other homelessness-assistance services, has launched an online petition to press Council to oppose the measure.
The agency’s executive director, Sister Mary Scullion, said the bill is especially unfortunate in light of the city’s previously successful approach to homelessness.
Of the nation’s 10 largest cities, Philadelphia has the least number of people per capita living on the street, Scullion said.
“Philadelphia has made a lot of strides in addressing the issue of people living on the streets. Both the public and private sectors have really made efforts to engage people on the street and get them to come into housing and take steps forward in their lives,” she said. “We know that many of the people who are living on the streets have special needs, like medical issues, addiction, mental-health issues, and that’s not a crime, it’s a social-service issue. Removing that step of having social services available to people on the street would be taking a giant step backward.”
Leigh Braden, executive director of Foyer of Philadelphia, which works with the LGBT homeless youth population, said her organization plans to join Project H.O.M.E.’s efforts to oppose the bill.
Braden said LGBT youth could be particularly hard-hit by the measure.
“A lot of homeless LGBT youth hang out in Center City, so they’re going to be in the population of people that will be getting cited and arrested because they’re homeless,” she said. “To start a young person off in this direction is really critically damaging to their sense of safety, stability and well-being and puts them in a position of being a criminal instead of a young person who’s homeless. We’re very concerned about how this would affect the young people we’re trying to serve.”
Scullion added that the bill has the potential to put an undue burden on people all across the city.
“This could cost the taxpayers a lot of money in terms of police time, court time and jail time, all of which is unnecessary. Homelessness is not a crime and shouldn’t be treated as such.”
To view the Project H.O.M.E. petition, visit www.projecthome.org.