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The Forum September 2020

Is a Always a ?: A Survey of Laws

Marlei English J.D. Candidate, SMU Dedman School of Law, 2021; Staff Editor for the International Law Review Association

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Recommended Citation

Marlei English, Is a House Always a Home?: A Survey of Homelessness Laws (2020) https://smulawjournals.org/ilra/forum/.

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Is a House Always a Home?: A Survey of Homelessness Laws By: Marlei English1 March 6, 2020 Homelessness is a plague that spares no country, yet not a single country has cured it. The type of legislation regarding homelessness in a country seems to correlate with the severity of its homelessness problem. The highly-variative approaches taken by each country when passing their legislation can be roughly divided into two categories: aid-based laws and criminalization laws. Analyzing how these homelessness laws affect the homeless community in each country can be an important step in understanding what can truly lead to finding the “cure” for homelessness rather than just applying temporary fixes. I. Introduction to the Homelessness Problem Homelessness is not a new issue, but it is a current, and pressing issue.2 In fact, it is estimated that at least 150 million individuals are homeless.3 That is about two percent of the population on Earth.4 Furthermore, an even larger 1.6 billion individuals may be living without adequate .5 While these statistics are startling, the actual number of individuals living without a home could be even larger because these are just the reported and observable numbers. The definition of what constitutes homelessness varies from country to country. For example, in the , according to the government, being homeless includes lacking a fixed and regular nighttime residence; sleeping somewhere not intended for sleeping, like a car or station; or living in a temporary .6 The United States also considers individuals fleeing dangerous situations like as being homeless.7 This is a significantly broad category of humans. In contrast, the Japanese government only considers individuals “living in certain locations, while overlooking those who are staying in Internet cafes or 24-hour fast food restaurants and the like.”8 In , just a few countries over, these essentially homeless individuals are called “McRefugees.”9 To emphasize the discrepancies that different definitions can cause, in 2018 the Japanese government published 4,977 as the number of homeless people, but non-profits in the country believe that number is two or three times larger.10 Moreover, the number of homeless individuals in many countries appears to be increasing.11 There are many theories for why this is the case, including barriers created by immigration, unsustainable

1 J.D. Candidate, SMU Dedman School of Law, 2021; Staff Editor for the International Law Review Association. 2 See Joseph Chamie, As Grow, So Do the Numbers of Homeless, YALEGLOBAL ONLINE (July 13, 2017), https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/cities-grow-so-do-numbers-homeless. 3 See id. 4 See id. 5 See id. 6 42 U.S.C. § 11302 (2014). 7 Id. 8 Government Survey Identifies 5,534 Homeless People in , NIPPON.COM (June 20, 2018), https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00221/government-survey-identifies-5-534-homeless-people-in-japan.html. 9 See Wyman Ma & Chermaine Lee, Homeless in Hong Kong: soaring costs fuel housing crisis in Asian financial hub, REUTERS (Jan. 25, 2018), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-property-homelessness/homeless-in- hong-kong-soaring-costs-fuel-housing-crisis-in-asian-financial-hub-idUSKBN1FE38W. 10 See generally Global Homeless Statistics, FOUND., https://homelessworldcup.org/homelessness-statistics/ (last visited Jan. 16, 2020). 11 See id. 1

wages, shortages in , ignorance of systems’ aid for homelessness, lack of care for issues, and the creation of laws that are pretexts for criminalizing homelessness. These potential reasons for an increase in homelessness are also reasons given for causing homelessness in general. When considering these potential causes of homelessness, it is important to keep in mind that no one issue is necessarily going to lead to homelessness on its own, but many of these causes go hand in hand, and a combination of two or more is very likely to lead to homelessness. For instance, an immigrant experiencing barriers to accessing housing in a new country due to discrimination often does not have sufficient knowledge of the aid available to him either, meaning that he is experiencing two potential causes of homelessness at once. Hope should not be abandoned in the wake of this information because there are attempts at decreasing homelessness that appear to be working. and its method is one example of this. Legislation plays a large role in homelessness numbers, with criminalization laws seemingly increasing the numbers and aid-based laws seemingly decreasing numbers. Many of the aid-based laws are usually written to directly attack causes of homelessness, thus it is important to identify and understand these causes. II. Potential Causes of Homelessness A. Barriers Created by Immigration Individuals choose to immigrate to other countries for many reasons. Oftentimes, those reasons, like seeking refuge, do not allow for the time to prepare for living in a new country. Moving to a new country may require learning a new language, taking courses related to certain careers, or passing licensing exams necessary to work.12 There is also the matter of finding new housing, which can be difficult even for individuals with secure sources of income. Acquiring any common of housing, like a house or , usually requires paying multiple fees that immigrants frequently do not have access to so soon after moving. With career related difficulties recently listed, lack of experience, and discrimination from the citizens, immigrants are forced into low- paying jobs, and the result is often unstable housing situations, undesirable housing, or actual homelessness.13 Furthermore, even when aid is available, many immigrants do not attempt to receive it because they fear deportation or are too ashamed to admit that they need help.14 A last factor driving immigrants into homelessness is that some countries restrict or deny statutory services to them in an attempt to reduce migration, but, in fact, they are just making it even more difficult for immigrants to survive in a new country.15 B. Unsustainable Incomes Owning or an adequate home usually costs a significant amount of money, yet the minimum wage in some countries is not enough for an individual to attempt owning or renting a home, much less an adequate one. Some countries do not even have a minimum wage. What an “adequate home” entails varies from country to country, but it can be assumed that it means more

12 See Supporting the Education of Immigrant Students Experiencing Homelessness, NAT’L CTR FOR HOMELESS EDUC., https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/imm_lia.pdf. 13 See id.; Cat Galley, The Connection Between Homelessness, Immigration, and Displacement, CTR ON EDUC. (Mar. 1, 2018), https://www.centeronhumanrightseducation.org/connection- homelessness-immigration-displacement/. 14 See Galley, supra note 12. 15 See The plan to end homelessness, CRISIS.ORG.UK, https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/the-plan-to- end-homelessness-full-version/solutions/chapter-12-ending-migrant-homelessness/ (last visited Jan. 29, 2019). 2

than a under a , hut in the , box in an alley, shelter full of strangers, or many other forms of living situations that individuals are in. Furthermore, a large number of adults are forced to work for the lowest wage possible due to multiple reasons, including, but not limited to, a , inability to receive higher education, or lack of transportation to higher paying careers.16 This inability to earn enough to pay housing costs, often coupled with other factors such as ignorance of how to receive aid, can lead to homelessness. To illustrate, imagine an individual (“Donald”) lives in, and grew up in, an apartment in a lower socioeconomic area of a where the only businesses within walking distance are fast food restaurants and gas stations, and there is no public transportation. Donald’s single mother lived paycheck to paycheck, and now he does too, so he cannot afford his own means of transportation. Donald also lives in a state where dropping out of school early is legal, and he did so in order to help make money for his family. With no transportation, he works as a cook at a fast food restaurant making minimum wage. His mother passed away last year after being hospitalized for a while, leaving him with medical bills that he took out a loan for. On top of all this, his apartment complex and all the surrounding complexes are raising in an attempt to rebrand their community. Donald’s earnings are no longer enough to pay his rent, bills, and take care of himself. He has no known family he can ask for help, and he has no idea that he may qualify for government assistance. Seeing no alternative, Donald packs his most valued belongings in a backpack and begins looking for a safe place to camp within walking distance of his job. Donald is now homeless. This hypothetical situation may seem absurd, but it is exactly the sort of slippery slope situation that many homeless individuals have experienced.17 Inflation in the United States has caused the minimum wage to be worth around half of what it was worth in the 1970s.18 The late 1970s are when “contemporary homelessness in the US emerged” due to the housing market becoming less affordable.19 If individuals were being forced into the in the 1970s, when the minimum wage was worth almost twice as much as it is now, it is not difficult to see how today’s minimum wage is contributing to homelessness, at least in the United States. In fact, research from the National Low Income Housing Coalition has shown that “there is no state in the country where someone earning the minimum wage can afford a one or two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent.”20 Fair Market Rent is “the 40th percentile of gross rents for standard units.”21 In fact, it is estimated “a person must earn at least $16.95 an hour” to “afford a one-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent.”22 This implies that the income in the United States is unsustainable and may be a cause of homelessness.

16 See Galley, supra note 12. 17 See Alastair Gee, or ? UN envoy encounters homeless life in , THE GUARDIAN (Jan. 22, 2018), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/22/un-rapporteur-homeless-san-francisco- california. 18 See Nicholas Pleace, Dennis Culhane, Riitta Granfelt & Marcus Knutagard, The Finnish Homelessness Strategy, MINISTRY OF THE ENV’T, https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/153258/YMra_3en_2015.pdf. 19 See id. 20 See No Safe Place, NAT’L L. CTR ON HOMELESSNESS & , https://nlchp.org/wp- content/uploads/2019/02/No_Safe_Place.pdf. 21 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, INST. OF GLOB. HOMELESSNESS, https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/05/CASEY_Louise_Paper.pdf. 22 Chamie, supra note 1. 3

Similarly, in Hong Kong, a 250 square foot apartment with windows and a bathroom costs more in monthly rent than some individuals make when working seven days a week.23 In , have increased in cost at around 2.7 percent, but their wages have increased by almost one percent less — a significant difference in this situation.24 In Australia’s case, their minimum wage is the equivalent of $16.88 of the United States Dollar (“USD”), the highest in the world, yet they are still not immune to large numbers of homeless.25 On the other end of the spectrum, has a minimum wage of the equivalent of $0.03 USD per hour, and , a country with a large economy, has a minimum wage of $0.28 USD per hour.26 There is nowhere in the world that an individual earning these salaries would be able to obtain adequate housing. C. Shortages of Affordable Housing Related to unsustainable incomes is the lack of affordable housing in many countries. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty has explicitly said that “a lack of affordable housing in America lies at the heart of our ongoing homeless crisis.”27 The growth of cities is often to blame in many countries for this shortage in affordable housing.28 As cities grow outwards, those outskirts tend to have more affordable housing, but that often comes with a lack of access to living necessities such as public transportation and grocery stores.29 While this does not negatively affect middle and upper-class individuals who can afford their own forms of transportation to travel for these necessities, low-income individuals usually cannot afford their own transportation and rely on the public transportation that does not exist in these areas. This leaves these individuals with no choice but to determine how they can remain in the inner city, and their options are often limited to becoming homeless. is an attempt by governments around the world to provide affordable housing to low-income families in addition to the elderly and persons with .30 Some countries, such as and , are seeing better results with their form of public housing called “social housing.”31 This is partly because instead of only allowing low-income individuals to inhabit this housing, social housing accepts middle-class individuals as well.32 In countries where public housing only allows for low-income individuals, the areas where public housing exists become negatively stigmatized, leading to the housing eventually getting demolished because they are so socially unacceptable.33 This of course leads to homelessness because if there is no affordable housing available, it is impossible to have a house. Despite the fact that there are forms of housing that are built specifically to help keep low-income families from becoming homeless, many people are still experiencing homeless due to the severe

23 See Ma & Lee, supra note 8. 24 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 25 See Matthew Boesler, Here’s How America’s Minimum Wage Stacks Up Against Countries Like India, , , and , BUS. INSIDER (Aug. 19, 2013), https://www.businessinsider.com/a-look-at-minimum-wages- around-the-world-2013-8. 26 See id. 27 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 28 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 29 See id. 30 See Public Housing, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. AND URBAN DEV., https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph (last visited Jan. 31, 2020). 31 See Roger K. Lewis, Let’s go from ‘public housing’ to ‘social housing’, THE WASH. POST (May 3, 2013), https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/lets-go-from-public-housing-to-social-housing/2013/05/02/2f96427e- b1a7-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story.html. 32 See id. 33 See id. 4

lack of affordable housing compared to the number of individuals without the ability to earn a higher income. For example, in 2013 a district in Washington state in the United States had a list of 70,000 people on a waiting list for a mere 8,000 units.34 This is the case in other United States cities as well.35 On a larger scale, 12.8 percent of the low income housing in the United States has been “permanently lost since 2001.”36 The (“UK”) has a history of housing prices raising twice as fast as earnings, and even though it has slowed down recently, housing prices are still rising.37 In addition, the UK’s new, rentable social housing is becoming more expensive due to the expectation for housing associations to raise funding for new developments from bank loans instead of governmental help.38 This creates a need for higher rents in order to pay off these loans.39 The UK also has landlords resisting housing low-income and homeless individuals because of the negative stigmatization that comes with them.40 Of course this does not help the lack of affordable housing situation. Hong Kong is another country experiencing “severe shortages of affordable accommodation.”41 South , , , , India, , , , Honduras, , Côte d’Ivoire (), and Mali are some more of, but not all of, the countries that have a lack of affordable, adequate housing.42 These listed countries are just the ones that have reported such shortages in housing. In general, getting into a home is expensive and difficult, even for people who earn a comfortable income. Renting an apartment is the usual choice for individuals making less money, but getting into an apartment requires a significant amount of money up front that is difficult to accumulate for almost anyone. When there is a low amount of affordable housing available, it severely restricts the opportunities to help the homeless.43 Shelters are broadly another form of affordable housing, yet there is a shortage of space in shelters as well. In the United States, there is such a large gap between individuals needing a place to stay and what is actually available that thousands of people are being left with no option but to live outdoors in public places.44 For example, in in the United States, there were “only 11,933 shelter beds to serve its homeless population of 53,798” only a few years ago.45 The United States is not the only country to suffer from a lack of shelter space to help the homeless. Officials in the city of São Paulo in have stated that less than half of their 20,000 homeless individuals can be housed in temporary accommodation at a time.46 Hong Kong provides shelter and governmentally but caps the amount of time individuals can stay there.47 These caps could serve as pressure on individuals to work hard to get back on their feet; however,

34 See id. 35 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 36 See id. 37 See Pleace, supra note 17. 38 See id. 39 See id. 40 See id. 41 See Ma & Lee, supra note 8. 42 See generally Global Homeless Statistics, supra note 9. 43 See Pleace, supra note 17. 44 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 45 See id. 46 See Jonathan Watts, Resistance! São Paulo’s homeless seize the city, THE GUARDIAN (Nov. 27, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/27/resistance-sao-paulo-homeless-reclaim-city-occupations. 47 See Ma & Lee, supra note 8. 5

it is more likely that these individuals are merely experiencing temporary relief before ending up back on the streets. In the end, when individuals do not have access to affordable housing and there are no shelters available, there are very few options left before becoming homeless. Interestingly, in , the United States, Ireland, and , researchers have found that women are more likely to look to these options before even attempting to access aid.48 Using emergency savings is one of these options, but savings are not easy to accumulate, and once they are accessed for use, they go quickly, leaving individuals with nowhere to stay again.49 Additionally, with no emergency savings left, these individuals have no way to fund a medical emergency or any other form of emergency that is likely to occur once they are living on the streets. Another option is asking family members for help.50 For individuals with generous families, this should probably be the first place to look for help, but, unfortunately, many individuals do not have families and if they do, those families are usually not apt to help. D. Ignorance of Welfare Systems Another possible cause of homelessness is that individuals are not taught about the aid they can receive that will help keep them off the streets. In the UK, it has been found that a significant amount of their homeless population are immigrants who “sought asylum at some point during their immigration process,” but these did not know how to “access asylum support” leading them to become homeless.51 In Sweden, they have “hyresrådgivning,” which are essentially rental advisors who help their clients stay in their ; however, there is a long wait to be seen by these rental advisors.52 These long waits can lead to individuals being evicted, sometimes leading to homelessness. Such a large market for rental advisors in Sweden suggests that there is a lack of knowledge about how individuals can access help themselves in order to keep themselves off the . Outreach programs are implemented in Finland, especially to “young people under 29 years of age,” in order to combat ignorance of aid, showing that Finland’s citizens also do not have sufficient knowledge of help available to them.53 According to the story of Yang Changhe of , , it appears that the citizens do not even have the opportunity to be ignorant of available aid because there is no available aid.54 During a “citywide safety crackdown” that caused “tens of thousands” of individuals to vacate their homes, Changhe opened a “drop-in centre” for these individuals, but within a few days officers told him to cease and desist without any alternative for these now homeless individuals.55 In San Francisco, California in the United States, a special rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha, met a homeless man who directly told her that “he did not understand the welfare system.”56 In Denmark, when homeless individuals were interviewed for a study, it was

48 See Pleace, supra note 17. 49 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 50 See id. 51 See The plan to end homelessness, supra note 14. 52 See Pleace, supra note 17. 53 See id. 54 See Nectar Gan, Welcome to Beijing: where helping the homeless can get you evicted, S. CHINA MORNING POST (Nov. 27, 2017), https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2121647/welcome-beijing-where- helping-homeless-can-get-you. 55 See Gan, supra note 53. 56 See Gee, supra note 16. 6

found that many did not know the resources available to them.57 This fact was emphasized by an argument amongst multiple homeless individuals over whether they could receive social security payments without an address.58 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research states that “system and process knowledge stands as a barrier to homeless people” on the following two fronts: “homeless people often do not understand the full extent of the benefits for which they are available” and “staff of homeless programs and public agencies alike have a limited understanding of the benefit system in its entirety.”59 If there is nobody related to the homeless that has sufficient knowledge of the resources available to them, it is impossible for anyone to escape homelessness. Professionals in Denmark believe that a large number of homeless individuals who do not understand welfare systems are in the state they are in because of a lack of social skills.60 They say that those with “impaired social skills, communication skills, and an unstable or nonexistent social network” are going to struggle with acts that require “more social competency than they have,” such as “maintaining an apartment, keeping up with bills, and arriving for an appointment at the set time.”61 This makes sense—if these individuals are social outcasts for the majority of their adult lives, there is often nobody to tell them what their rights or available benefits are. For example, an estimated ten percent of the homeless population in Denmark does not collect their social security monies because of reasons like blindly getting tossed around the bureaucratic welfare system or lacking the social skills to request the money in a socially acceptable way.62 With no way to navigate the welfare system in their country of residence, homeless individuals will continue to not receive assistance and, thus, continue living without a home. E. Existence of and Lack of Care for Mental Health Issues Mental health disorders are one of the most widely recognized causes of homelessness. This became a large cause in the 1960s when mental institutions were exposed as problematic, leading to many of them being closed and dumping its wards onto the streets.63 Nowadays, it is likely that any randomly chosen person on the street would tell you that they believe many people are homeless because their mental health has caused them to be. The only people who do not know about the prevalence of mental disease amongst the homeless are the people who are privileged enough to live in areas where they are not confronted with the homeless population. For instance, the citizens of Hellerup, an expensive neighborhood in Denmark, believe that individuals with mental disorders are all in institutions with the exception of very few.64 Unfortunately, what these Hellerup citizens believe is incorrect; the truth is that the majority of homeless individuals suffer

57 See Rasmus Grue Christensen & Nicole Kirkwood, Homeless In A Welfare State: Perspectives from , HUMANITY IN ACTION, https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/homelessness-in-a-welfare-state- perspectives-from-copenhagen/ (last visited Feb. 3, 2020). 58 See id. 59 See Martha R. Burt et al., Strategies for Improving Homeless People’s Access to Mainstream Benefits and Services, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. AND URBAN DEV. (Mar. 2010), https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/28626/412089-Strategies-for-Improving-Homeless-People-s- Access-to-Mainstream-Benefits-and-Services.PDF. 60 See Christensen & Kirkwood, supra note 56. 61 See id. 62 See id. 63 See Michael Shellenberger, Why California Keeps Making Homelessness Worse, FORBES (Sept. 12, 2018), https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/09/12/why-california-keeps-making-homelessness- worse/#553acede5a61. 64 See Christensen & Kirkwood, supra note 56. 7

from mental disorders in one way or another. found that over seventy percent of its homeless population suffers from mental illness.65 That is not a small percentage. Adding injury to fact, once these individuals suffering from mental health disease begin living in the streets, it becomes almost impossible for them to get back into a home because the hardships that come with homelessness deteriorate even the most mentally strong individuals’ minds. One of the hardships related to mental diseases is lack of funding for help. In the United States, assistance for mental health problems exists, but it only lasts as long as the funding for it does.66 Providing services to help mental disease amongst the homeless population appears to be low on the government’s priorities, so it is not likely that a large amount of funds are being allocated to such services. Closely related is the fact that aid for mental disorders is often necessary for an individual’s whole life, making it very difficult for any source to actually provide beneficial aid.67 “Common mental illnesses include depression, bipolar disorder, , and often posttraumatic stress disorder…”68 To illustrate, it is possible that many mental disorders require a treatment consisting of medication, therapy, or both. These options might require repeated communication between trained professionals and these homeless individuals because their medication probably requires diagnosis, prescribing, and supervision, and therapy will not be truly beneficial with only one session. Considering that many people experiencing homelessness most likely do not have access to transportation, professionals capable of providing medical and psychological help will probably need to travel to their homeless patients. This in turn has its own difficulties because many homeless individuals are constantly relocating; they have no base address to find them at. Prejudice is another barrier for the homeless when trying to receive help for their mental health.69 Mainstream providers with the ability to choose between homeless and non-homeless patients often choose to treat the non-homeless; treating the homeless with “rudeness, disrespect,” and “disdain.”70 Reinforcing this barrier is that some places, like California in the United States, oppose mandatory treatment for mental illness.71 If there are no incentives for receiving mental health services, homeless individuals are not likely to pursue it after being treated in degrading ways. One solution being proposed as alternative to mandatory treatment in California is “conservatorship.”72 This is “where a health official is given the authority to make decisions for a mentally incapacitated individual,” but this authority is only given after the individual has committed “nine acts of violence against themselves or others.” Mentally healthy people often do not commit even one act of violence, much less nine, so this absurd “solution” shows just how little thought is being put into helping the mentally ill. In continuing, mental illness can cause normally passive people to become violent. Violence is extremely likely to get homeless people evicted or kicked out from wherever they are staying, regardless of whether it is attributed to their mental state. In fact, in Finland where they are utilizing a Housing First approach to helping the homeless, violent and mentally ill individuals are

65 Global Homeless Statistics, supra note 9. 66 See generally Burt, supra note 58. 67 See Watts, supra note 45. 68 State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 69 See Burt, supra note 58. 70 See id. 71 See Shellenberger, supra note 62. 72 See id. 8

amongst the very few that have been evicted.73 Furthermore, it appears that many homeless individuals often utilize shelters as a home base when trying to rehabilitate themselves. If violence often causes , this most likely strips these individuals needing help from a place to stay. When it comes to violence caused by mental health in homeless individuals, it seems to be an endless cycle: one develops mental illness, becomes homeless, enters temporary housing, suffers a worsening of mental illness, becomes violent, gets evicted, becomes homeless, and so on. Without outside aid, this cycle is not likely to be broken. The same can be said for non-violent mentally ill as well. F. Criminalization of Homelessness “Criminalizing homelessness” is a broadly sweeping term that in reality means criminalizing behaviors attributed to homeless individuals. In the present day, these laws that are essentially criminalizing the homeless seem to be the one of the largest contributors to homelessness, as well as one of the biggest detriments to ending homelessness. Similar to how mental disorders can create a difficult-to-break cycle of homelessness, criminalization can do the same. For example, a homeless individual who is living under a bridge is arrested for a violation of the city’s new anti- law. He cannot afford legal representation, and because he has other unpaid fines and tickets, he is sentenced to some time in jail. After his stint in jail, he searches for a job in hopes of turning his life around; however, he soon learns that with no address and a criminal record, it is seemingly impossible to find someone to hire him. Because of this, he gives up and decides that his only option is to continue living homeless while attempting to avoid getting caught again by the police. Before his , if he had received help, there is a possibility that he might have been able to get a job and get back on his feet, but that possibility was taken from him when he was arrested for violating a law that has no purpose but to target homeless individuals. An argument could be made that laws like anti-camping laws were enacted to maintain the aesthetics of the city or some other beneficial reason for the city, but it seems more likely that those are just pretexts for attempting to clean the streets of the homeless. What is especially unfortunate about these laws is that the homeless are not a protected class, at least not in America, so it is difficult to get them struck down.74 Taking into account the fact that other countries have anti-homeless laws, it is likely that the homeless are not a protected class in those countries either. The criminalization of the homeless’ behaviors is a very current issue. In fact, the United States Supreme Court, in December of 2019, upheld a decision to strike down “a law making it a crime to sleep in public places when space is unavailable.”75 While this may seem like good news, the qualification of “when homeless shelter space is unavailable” has significant meaning behind it. In 2014, all states and territories in Australia had laws in place that effectively criminalized homelessness.76 An example of such a law is the Activities Local Law 2009, which says: “Unless in accordance with a permit, a person must not camp in or on any public place.”77 This wording is actually ironic because on its face it makes sense. One might think, “Oh yeah

73 See Pleace, supra note 17. 74 See Are There Any Special Laws Regarding Homeless People, HG.ORG, https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/are- there-any-special-laws-regarding-homeless-people-35492 (last visited Jan. 16, 2020). 75 See Pete Williams, Supreme Court won’t disturb ruling against anti-homeless law, NBC (Dec. 16, 2019), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-won-t-disturb-ruling-against-anti-homeless-law- n1102616. 76 State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 77 James Hancock, homelessness: Council votes to ban camping in the city, ABC AU (Feb. 7, 2017), https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/homelessness-in-melbourne-city-council-bans-camping/8248506. 9

requiring a permit for camping is reasonable,” because camping is out of the norm for many people. But, when critically thought about, this law is blatantly targeting homeless people. It is illogical to think that an average person, with a home, would choose to go camping in the middle of a city when they have the resources to camp somewhere that attracts campers, such as a National in the United States or the equivalent elsewhere. This means that only the homeless would choose to camp in the middle of a city, meaning that they will have to apply for a permit that they likely will not be approved for, especially considering the requirements for qualifying for such a permit were probably created to intentionally be impossible for a homeless individual to meet. Many other places just have general anti-camping laws that are continuing to exist because they are not facially discriminating against the homeless, so nobody is attempting to combat them. As previously mentioned, the argument made for these anti-camping laws is to keep public places “safe and sanitary” and to help residents “feel safer.”78 There is little doubt that these are good purposes for the residents with homes, but criminalizing common behaviors done by the homeless is doing nothing but exacerbating their homelessness. Criminal records do not only prevent individuals from getting jobs, but it can also be a barrier to accessing housing.79 There are individuals who say that not only is criminalizing homelessness creating an unbreakable cycle but that it is also depriving homeless individuals of their civil rights.80 The Ministry of the Environment of Finland has quoted an individual who has profoundly summarized the homeless plight in relation to criminal laws as saying: When one can no longer inhabit public space, have one’s possessions and shanty towns (home by some definitions) burned or bulldozed, be arrested for one’s status rather than a crime (hence signaling a loss of civil rights), and only exercise political power with extreme difficulty, cannot be said to be a citizen.81 What is interesting about this statement is that it is very possible that these laws criminalizing homeless behaviors are created precisely because the legislators are not considering them citizens. In fact, in , where the police are legally allowed to “remove rough sleepers from streets and dismantle huts and ,” the social affairs state secretary has said that their goal is “to ensure homeless people are not on the streets at night-time and that citizens can make use of public space unimpeded.”82 If an average person were to be asked who she considered to be a citizen, she would likely say something along the lines of living within a certain city. However, a home is not a requirement for someone to be considered “living.” Homeless people are citizens of whatever city they are living in, so there is no explainable way that “removing rough sleepers” and dismantling their “homes” is ensuring that “citizens can make use of public space unimpeded.” Removing someone from a location is the opposite of not impeding a citizen’s use of public space. Criminalizing homeless behaviors is the opposite of what should be happening. If both an individual with a home and one without are living in a city, then they are both technically citizens and should be treated as such. Yet, the criminalization still occurs with laws prohibiting behaviors like sitting on sidewalks, loitering, sleeping in public, , food sharing, and storing property in public places. The United States is not the only country that participates in criminalizing the

78 See Williams, supra note 74. 79 See Burt, supra note 58. 80 See Pleace, supra note 17. 81 Id. 82 AFP, Rough sleeping banned in Hungary as new homelessness law comes into force, THEJOURNAL.IE (Oct. 18, 2018), https://www.thejournal.ie/rough-sleeping-banned-hungary-4286956-Oct2018/. 10

homeless. In 2013, Hungary had an “Anti-Homelessness Law” that made “habitually residing in public spaces, or storing one’s belongings in such spaces, a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or fine.”83 Laws prohibiting sitting in public are usually called “sit/lie” laws.84 The excuse for prohibiting sitting on sidewalks is to keep walkways unobstructed.85 Unobstructed sidewalks are conducive to a safer environment, but the prohibition of such an insignificant behavior to keep them clear makes it seem as if these lawmakers should be prohibiting everything that somewhat regularly obstructs sidewalks. The chances of this being the case are very low. It is also not likely that police in these cities are enforcing these laws equally, but rather they are only citing and arresting individuals who appear homeless while ignoring the rest, such as tourists taking a break from walking.86 Prohibiting loitering has the same effect as prohibiting sitting on sidewalks but adds standing as part of the criminal act. Anti-camping laws are essentially laws that prohibit individuals from sleeping in public. Some of the cities with these laws do not allow the use of camp cars, house trailers, cards, or as temporary shelter in the city, while others completely ban “sleeping out-of-doors.”87 If shelters in these places are full and a homeless individual has no other alternatives, he will more than likely be forced out of the city just to have the freedom to sleep. Furthermore, not allowing sleeping out- of-doors at all prevents generous individuals from letting the homeless sleep on their private property.88 To emphasize the dilemma these anti-camping laws create, the Western Regional Advocacy Project and their partners found that in the United States only twenty-six percent of the homeless individuals they interviewed knew of a safe, legal place to sleep.89 Criminalizing begging in public is another law that is blatantly targeting the homeless as there are very few reasons why anyone else would be begging in public. These laws vary from an outright ban, to banning begging in particular places, to only banning begging in combination with a vocal request.90 Preventing the homeless from begging may seem like a good way to incentivize them to go out and get jobs or aid; however, there are many situations where this is not possible for them, and they still need a source of money for basic needs like food and hygiene.91 For example, it is very difficult to get a job with no address, no phone number, and no transportation. If an individual in this situation also cannot figure out the welfare system, the proper alternative is not to leave him with no way to pay for his basic necessities because that would essentially be a death sentence. Prohibiting food sharing is yet another law criminalizing a homeless behavior; however, when writing these laws, lawmakers were honest and stated that their purpose was to stop encouraging homeless people to remain homeless.92 This law most commonly prohibits sharing any food with

83 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 84 See Trevor Bach, Will Fines and Jail Time Fix the Homelessness Crisis?, U.S. NEWS (Oct. 7, 2019), https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2019-10-07/us-cities-are-increasingly-cracking-down-on- homelessness. 85 No Safe Place, supra note 19. 86 See Are There Any Special Laws Regarding Homeless People, supra note 73. 87 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 88 See id. 89 Id. 90 See id. 91 See id. 92 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 11

homeless people. It has been suggested by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty in the United States that preventing the homeless population from accessing free food is not going to get them off the streets but rather cause them to search for food in unsanitary locations like dumpsters.93 Storing personal belongings in public is another behavior that can be criminalized, which directly affects the homeless considering they are often the only people who store personal belonging in public. In following these laws, police and other government employees will go through an area and throw away or destroy all personal possessions without waiting a second to learn if the owner has just briefly stepped away, which is usually the case.94 To make this situation worse, once this act of “sweeping” the area has occurred, the owners are not awarded an opportunity to retrieve what has been thrown away.95 Homeless individuals only have few resources to help them survive, and if what little they have is taken away, that just further makes it difficult to escape homelessness. The Institute of Global Homelessness has stated “, incarcerations, fines, and convictions prolong homelessness by creating new, sometimes nearly insurmountable barriers to obtaining employment and stable housing.”96 All of the laws mentioned in this section and more were mostly made with good intentions, but when it requires a job in many countries to get off the streets, criminalization of homelessness does nothing but ensure that homelessness cannot be escaped.97 Fortunately, there is proof that criminalization laws are not entirely bad. In , in the United States, they passed a sit/lie law in combination with an outreach program that led almost 900 people into housing.98 Creating outreach programs to work alongside criminalization laws can be a shorter and easier process than getting a law struck down. Summarizing why criminalizing homelessness is wrong is best done in the words of the United Nation’s housing expert Leilani Farha, “What is this ‘crime’ (homeless people) have committed? Merely trying to survive.”99 III. Laws Enacted to Help the Homeless On the other end of the spectrum from laws criminalizing homelessness are laws that governments around the world have enacted to aid the homeless. There are comprehensive, idealistic resolutions and laws and then there are more specific, realistic laws. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights appears to be one of these comprehensive resolutions. Article 25 of this resolution states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family.”100 Sleeping under a highway overpass, on the door step of a store, or any other location that many homeless individuals are “living” do not qualify for an “adequate standard of living,” yet it is still happening in countries that are members of the United Nations. This suggests that these comprehensive resolutions and laws are not enough on their own to actually help the homeless crisis. However, this has not stopped other countries from attempting such comprehensive laws. The federal government of the United States appears to have chosen this path. They did so through the enactment of their “Homeless Assistance Laws,” the purpose

93 See id. 94 See id. 95 See id. 96 State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 97 See Are There Any Special Laws Regarding Homeless People, supra note 73. 98 See Bach, supra note 83. 99 See AFP, supra note 81. 100 G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec. 10, 1948), art. 25. 12

of which are to establish the United State Interagency Council on Homelessness, coordinate use of public resources and programs to meet the critically urgent needs of the homeless, and to provide funds for programs to assist the homeless.101 The United States is still experiencing a significant homelessness problem. The European Parliament has also followed this path by adopting the European Parliament Resolution on EU Homelessness Strategy, which is what it sounds like — a call for the creation of a strategy amongst its member states.102 This is particularly interesting because both the most successful countries in helping the homeless, Finland, and one of the least successful, Hungary, are both member states of the .103 Finland is experiencing such success because of its Housing First approach towards helping the homeless. What this approach consists of is inherent in the name, as soon as individuals become homeless, they are given a home.104 These homes are given to them as a normal leasing situation, and they pay rent as best they can with the local government covering the rest.105 Individually tailored support is also given consistently, such as financial and debt counseling services.106 Because lack of affordable housing is such a large part of causing homelessness, Finland attacked it directly by purchasing flats from the private market, building new housing blocks, and turning homeless shelters into supported housing.107 It is estimated that using this system is saving up to 9,600 euros a year, a little over 10,000 USD, as opposed to costs required to aid homeless individuals.108 The reasoning behind adopting the Housing First method is that addressing other issues related to homelessness, such as drug and alcohol dependency or mental illness, is extremely difficult while the individual is still living in the streets.109 IV. Suggestions If solving homelessness were an easy matter, it would be solved by now. Unfortunately, it is not an easy matter, and homelessness has not been solved. However, there are locations throughout the world that have taken it upon themselves to work on this issue, and some of them are finding success. A common pattern seen amongst these successes is that the body that has taken charge in addressing homelessness is chipping away at the problem and taking the time to ensure they are doing it sustainably rather than attempting a complete overhaul in a short amount of time. A good first step in addressing homelessness would be to have a definitive definition of homelessness that is acknowledged on a wide scale and to create classifications that will allow for more tailored solutions. Once that is done, agreements need to be made amongst different levels of government and different organizations to work together in creating and implementing solutions. Lastly, laws, plans, and programs need to actually be created and implemented. A. Definition of Homelessness

101 42 U.S.C. § 11301 (2004). 102 See European Parliament Resolution on EU Homelessness Strategy, HOUS. RIGHTS WATCH (Sept. 8, 2013), http://www.housingrightswatch.org/resource/european-parliament-resolution-eu-homelessness-strategy. 103 Alex Gray, Here’s how Finland solved its homelessness problem, WORLD ECON. FORUM (Feb. 13, 2018), https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/how-finland-solved-homelessness/.; see generally State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 104 See Gray, supra note 102. 105 Id. 106 Id. 107 See id. 108 See id. 109 See Gray, supra note 102. 13

A widely accepted definition of homelessness is important because it provides a uniform means to determine how large homeless populations actually are. A universal definition would also help countries track their progress in solving homelessness, which is important in determining what is and is not working. The United States has been systematically tracking their homelessness program utilization and have shown just how beneficial it is to be able to track progress.110 You cannot create solutions to problems you cannot identify. To illustrate, perhaps there is a country that considers their homeless population to only be the individuals sleeping on the streets while ignoring those living in their cars, on friend’s couches, or in fast food restaurants. If this country was to attempt to create affordable housing to house their “homeless population,” the country would find themselves at a deficit of housing unless they specified that qualification for said housing requires the individual to have previously been living on the streets. None of that is truly solving anything other than getting people off the streets, which makes it sound like a less harsh version of criminalizing homeless behaviors. As of right now, definitions all sound similar but vary greatly in application. The federal government in the United States has a fairly specific definition of what constitutes homelessness including the following: lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; having a primary nighttime residence that is not normally used as a regular sleeping accommodation (cars are included here); living in a temporary shelter; or owning housing that they will imminently lose.111 On the other hand, Greece has an unhelpfully broad definition of homelessness saying that an individual must simply have “insufficient accommodation,” yet there is no definition of what is considered insufficient.112 The United Nations has found that definitions vary so much from country to country because it is a culturally defined concept.113 For example, in some third world countries it is not abnormal to live in a shanty or a tent, while in first world countries that might be considered a worst case scenario. A universally agreed upon definition of homelessness would not allow for anyone needing help to be overlooked. This is especially important because laws meant to help the homeless usually have criteria that an individual must meet in order to receive the help.114 Ideally, every individual that needs help should qualify for it, and a common definition would help that happen. There are organizations that have already done the work in creating definitions that could be adopted universally. The Institute of Global Homelessness is one of them. Their definition includes three categories: people without accommodation, people living in temporary or , and people living in severely inadequate and insecure housing.115 People without accommodation includes “people sleeping in the streets or in other open spaces;” “people sleeping in public roofed spaces or buildings not intended for human habitation;” “people sleeping in their cars, rickshaws, open fishing boars and other forms of transport;” and “individuals or households who live on the street in a regular spot, usually with some form of makeshift cover.”116 People living in temporary or crisis accommodation includes “people staying in night shelters;” “people living in homeless and other types of temporary accommodation for homeless people;” “women and children living in refuges for those fleeing domestic violence;” people living camps

110 See Pleace, supra note 17. 111 42 U.S.C. § 11302. 112 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 113 See Chamie, supra note 1. 114 See Burt, supra note 58. 115 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 116 Id. 14

provided for internally displaced people,” which means they have fled their homes but have not crossed international borders; and “people living in camps or reception centers/temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants.”117 Lastly, people living in severely inadequate and insecure accommodation includes “people sharing with friends and relatives on a temporary basis;” “people living under threat of violence;” people living in cheap , and breakfasts and similar;” “people in conventional housing;” “people living in conventional housing that is unfit for human habitation;” “people living in trailers, caravans and tents;” “people living in extremely overcrowded conditions;” and “people living in non- conventional buildings and temporary structures.”118 This extremely detailed and inclusive way of defining what being homeless entails ensures that a much larger population of individuals in need of help receives it. While many countries recognize the first two categories as homeless, the third category is often ignored. This is detrimental to the cause of solving homelessness because many of these third category individuals are right on the cusp of falling into the first two categories. To expound, if a country is only creating helpful laws that address the first two categories, individuals in the third category will keep adding to the first two categories with nothing preventing that from happening. It is impossible to solve a problem if only two-thirds of it are acknowledged. B. Agreements Between Entities The United Nations, which includes an enormous number of the countries in the world, has said in their Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.119 This calls for agreements up through international entities, but big problems have to be addressed piece by piece, so a good place to start is internal agreements within countries first. When it comes to choosing the proper entities necessary to solve homelessness, Finland is a good place to look. Finland’s Housing First model has been one of the most successful approaches to ending homelessness, and in order for this model to work, the state and municipal governments are working together with non-governmental organizations.120 The way this works is the state is allocating extra funding that incentivizes the municipalities to implement the Housing First model.121 Once implemented, the municipalities cover what the tenants cannot, and they often do so by purchasing support from other service providers that are usually non-governmental organizations.122 When state financing is strengthened by constitutional guarantees and rights, it allows for the local governments to have the time and resources to do the ground work of planning

117 Id. 118 Id. 119 G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec. 10, 1948), art. 22. 120 See Dawn Foster, What can the UK learn from how Finland solved homelessness?, THE GUARDIAN (Mar. 22, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/mar/22/finland-solved-homelessness- eu-crisis-housing-first. 121 See id. 122 See id. 15

and actually providing social housing.123 Juha Kaakinen, the chief executive of a social enterprise that provides housing for the Housing First approach, has stated that Housing First works so well because it is “a mainstream national homelessness policy with a common framework.”124 An important factor in getting these entities to work together was a clear strategy with concrete objectives, so every entity knew their role and what needed to be done.125 Sweden’s lack of a clear, national homelessness strategy has emphasized just how important having one is. There is an attempt to help the homeless there, but because they lack a widely-adopted strategy, the funding is too spread out to make a strong impact in any one place, and they are failing to provide outreach to important subsets of the homeless like “rough sleepers” (individuals who sleep in the open air or in locations not meant for sleeping).126 Finland calls this use of agreements amongst different levels of entities a “tripartite approach,” and they have successfully implemented it twice now.127 One of the purposes behind their levels of government involving the non-governmental organizations, and a reason why others should follow suit, is that many non-governmental organizations have long been tackling the homelessness issue and have extensive experience and knowledge to share with the levels of government.128 The United States has already created the foundation for forming an agreement amongst the entities capable of helping the homeless by creating the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.129 The purpose of this council is to “create a national partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce and end homelessness.”130 Currently, this does not appear to be happening in the United States, but a codified requirement for these entities to work together is a good start. The current reality in the United States is that federal grant programs are created, but they delegate the responsibility to local planning councils who are not able to organize the necessary funding for actual help.131 If the United Nations’ call for agreements were heeded, and if this already codified requirement for the levels of government to work together on the homelessness issue was actually enforced and implemented, it is possible that the United States would be well on their way to greater success in curing homelessness. In Australia, people are calling for such agreements as well. Jenny Smith, Australia’s Council to Homeless Persons’ Chief Executive Officer, has stated that their federal government needs to include the state and local governments in making a plan that actually has the potential for real progress in solving homelessness.132 is yet another country that is attempting to make these agreements. Its 2004 Breaking New Ground government policy calls for the government and private sector to form partnerships.133 It is a good sign that several countries are attempting to make these types of agreements amongst the different entities capable of helping the homeless.

123 See Pleace, supra note 17. 124 See Gray, supra note 102. 125 See Foster, supra note 119. 126 See Pleace, supra note 17. 127 See id. 128 See generally id. 129 See 42 U.S.C. § 11311 (2009). 130 Id. 131 See Pleace, supra note 17. 132 See Patrick Wood, Homelessness ‘duty to assist’ law could force government to help those in crisis, ABC AU (Aug. 7, 2019), https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-08/homelessness-plan-to-compel-government-to-find-social- housing/11386610. 133 See The Right to Adequate Housing Factsheet, SOUTH AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMM’N, https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20the%20right%20to%20adequate%20housing.pdf. 16

As more countries continue to do this, hopefully following Finland’s lead, the more plausible of a plan it will appear to others, which will in turn hopefully prompt them to do the same. C. Creation and Execution An overwhelming amount of suggestions have been made for solving the homelessness crisis, so it is important to attempt to review and analyze them in order to find what has been successful thus far. Amongst these suggestions that have shown success are developing new resources and applying them strategically, with an emphasis on “strategically;” addressing problems at the street level, like providing transportation and conducting outreach; and broadening eligibility. Ending the criminalization of homelessness is something that is frequently suggested. The Institute of Global Homelessness has determined that the approach that seems the most successful involves all of the following: a well-coordinated system that plans for outcomes; a strategy that includes prevention, emergency response, housing, and supports; and resources to follow through with these plans.134 Furthermore, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (“NLCHP”) has suggested that when a community is planning housing developments to assist the homeless and impoverished that they should try to locate them in areas close to available employment and services.135 The NLCHP has also suggested that public libraries are a great way to distribute information to homeless individuals because of the free services that the homeless population already accesses at the libraries.136 Another suggestion is to improve the process of transitioning from jails and hospitals back into society.137 Such improvements can start at simply providing information about options for aid to the individuals before they are discharged.138 When considering what causes homelessness and the barriers in place that are preventing individuals from breaking out of homelessness, these suggestions make sense as they seem to be considering all contingencies. As is the case for model agreements, Finland also has a model strategy for approaching homelessness. Finland’s Housing First model, where homeless people are given permanent housing as soon as they become homeless, along with consistent support, has allowed for Finland to be one of the few countries in the world to not be experiencing a homelessness crisis.139 The success they have already experienced under this approach proves that this could be a feasible model for other countries to strive for. The backbone of Housing First is affordable housing and support, but there are other details that have contributed to its success which should be considered by any country hoping to see the same success.140 One of these details is that investments have been made specifically for the purpose of creating affordable housing, and that has also allowed for the conversion of shelters into supported housing units.141 The government also bought flats from the private market as well as built new housing blocks.142 Another is that each tenant in the Housing First program receives individually tailored support services to assist with services like paying the rent, applying for other government benefits, and receiving financial and debt

134 See State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies, supra note 20. 135 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 136 See id. 137 See id. 138 See id. 139 See Foster, supra note 119. 140 See id. 141 See id. 142 See Gray, supra note 102. 17

counseling.143 Finland’s reasoning behind providing all of this for their homeless individuals is that having a permanent home makes addressing all other problems easier.144 In fact, one individual who was given a house under this program said in an interview by the World Economic Forum that when he was homeless, he was drinking alcohol daily as a way to pass the time, but once he was given an apartment he stopped drinking for several months.145 There are, of course, some aspects that people find negative or fear about the Housing First approach; however, Finland is doing its best to combat them. One fear is how expensive this program will be. Calculating exactly how much more or less expensive Housing First is over an alternative method is nearly impossible. It has been estimated though that when looking at one individual and comparing how much it costs to put him through the Housing First approach rather than providing common welfare aid, the government is saving around a little over the equivalent of $10,000 USD.146 Another fear is that adding housing blocks meant for the program would adversely affect existing neighborhoods, but Finland is attempting to combat this by encouraging interaction between the tenants and the residents of the neighborhoods and by actively taking care of the community’s physical appearance.147 Other countries have found success on smaller scales than Finland, but all methods leading to success should be considered in order to not accidentally overlook the key to ending homelessness. Denmark is one of these countries experiencing some success with their Housing First model, but not at the level that Finland has seen.148 Denmark portrays themselves as a “perfect welfare state,” yet they still have a significant amount of homeless.149 As mentioned previously in the “Causes of Homelessness” section, the Danish appear to believe that the homeless population has chosen to be homeless and do not consider them as needing help, which suggests that perhaps a broader definition of homeless is the missing link to Denmark achieving Finland’s level of success. One unique thing that Denmark is doing is putting extra effort into applying their Housing First approach to young homeless people in an attempt to break the homelessness cycle early.150 Denmark does this by immediately providing a small, low-cost apartment in exchange for only an assurance in writing that the individual will cooperate with the municipality and its partners.151 After six months of this, he or she is assessed, and it is decided whether he or she needs further support (such as for drug ) or a regular contract for the apartment can be signed.152 This emphasis on helping young people could be very beneficial to copy as young people are generally more impressionable and helping them learn how to live a stable life could lead to fewer numbers of homeless people in the future.

143 See id. 144 See id. 145 See Gray, supra note 102. 146 See id. 147 See id. 148 See Housing First in Europe, HOUS. FIRST EUR. HUB, https://housingfirsteurope.eu/guide/what-is-housing- first/housing-first-in-europe/, (last visited Mar. 1, 2020). 149 See Christensen & Kirkwood, supra note 56. 150 See Britta Martinsen, How Denmark has helped its homeless young people, THE GUARDIAN (July 10, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/jul/10/housing-first-young-people-homelessness-denmark. 151 See id. 152 See id. 18

South Africa is another country experiencing instances of success because its constitution recognizes adequate housing as a fundamental right.153 Municipalities have resisted fulfilling their duty to provide adequate housing under the constitution, but the laws are frequently invoked in the South African court system, which has allowed the courts to shape the legal protection of this right to adequate housing as needed.154 ’s inclusive definition of homelessness, combined with its judicially-enforceable right to immediate housing, has allowed for Scotland to experience some success.155 Canada is another such country experiencing small successes, at least in some cities, such as Hat in Alberta, where homeless individuals do not live without shelter for more than ten days before the government provides a permanent home to them.156 The United States has also seen some success, but mainly at local levels. A county in the state of Florida has implemented a “Homeless and Domestic Violence Tax” where they take a one percent tax on all food and beverage sales by establishments that the state has licensed to serve alcohol, and then, the proceeds are used for implementing their care plan.157 A city in the state of Utah has actually been following the path set by Finland and has been implementing the Housing First model, as well as working on perfecting the process for efficiently assessing a homeless person’s situation.158 Continuing, a city in the state of has found success in implementing an outreach program through their police department rather than the usual approach of arresting or giving tickets to the homeless.159 It is advisable when looking at locations claiming success as a model to copy to look at from different levels of government, as well as the data from non-governmental organizations. The reason for this is that homelessness is heavily stigmatized, and no country wants that marring their reputation. This in turn leads to skewed data representations that makes the number of homeless seem much less severe. Japan is a good example of this. There are sources saying that Japan is a country to look to for finding a way to cure homelessness; however, the measure of this success is that they have “hit record lows.”160 A vague description such as this one can hide a lot of facts without being untruthful. To illustrate, the National Survey on conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare found that there were 701 less homeless people in 2017 than in 2016.161 This data may be true, but this survey has a very narrow definition of what constitutes homelessness.162 This means that the homeless individuals living in internet cafes, fast- food restaurants, their cars, and many other locations that the survey does not cover are not being counted as part of the homeless population. Japan is most likely not alone in this, which is why it is important for a broad definition of homelessness to be adopted internationally. Curing one subset of the homeless population is not solving homelessness—it is really just altering the subsets that make up the homeless population. An individual who sleeps in a booth and carries all his

153 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 154 See id. 155 See id. 156 See Justin Salhani, Four Countries The United States Can Look To When Fighting Homelessness, THINKPROGRESS (June 29, 2016), https://thinkprogress.org/four-countries-the-united-states-can-look-to-when- fighting-homelessness-a2a43e2cc396/. 157 See No Safe Place, supra note 19. 158 See id. 159 See id. 160 See Salhani, supra note 155. 161 Government Survey Identifies 5,534 Homeless people in Japan, supra note 7. 162 See Id. 19

personal belongings everywhere in a backpack is just as homeless as the individual sleeping under an overpass. Ultimately, because homelessness has not been fully cured anywhere, it is difficult to say what combination of approaches works best. However, due to the much higher level of success that Finland has experienced with Housing First compared to the other successful countries, that is potentially the best approach for countries to model their own approach after. When creating a new plan for tackling homelessness, it may be beneficial to copy Finland while also implementing the other suggestions listed above as able. Since Finland’s model, arguably the most successful in the world, is not perfect, these seemingly helpful suggestions being added to the model may improve the system. Even if the smaller suggestions like distributing information about aid at public libraries does not help much, it certainly will not harm any of the homeless population to have easier access to that information. V. Conclusion Homelessness is a horrible crisis that should not exist. It is experienced across the world and can affect people at any time, especially considering most individuals become homeless due to unforeseen circumstances. It is not a new issue, nor is it an ignored issue in most countries. Many circumstances can cause homelessness and each one is important to identify and understand. This understanding is important because finding the root of a problem allows for the creation of solutions that catch the problem before it becomes complicated and difficult to cure. Most governments and organizations look to legislation as a solution. While it is very likely that this will be the most effective route to take, currently, a large amount of legislation only criminalizes the behaviors of homeless people. This criminalization has shown time and time again to do nothing but temporarily “clean the streets,” to make the privileged more comfortable while creating strong barriers that prevent the homeless from escaping homelessness. Beneficial legislation that has been shown to actually help the homelessness crisis all revolves around providing aid to the homeless individuals in many different forms. As previously stated in the Suggestions section, homelessness is not easy to fix. There is no black and white solution to it. What has been suggested here is just one attempt to synthesize approaches that have been working in hopes that one day nobody has to live without a home. What works in one country may not work in another, and the same can be said for city to city or one street to the next street over. Having a home does not make someone more human than someone without a home. Homeless individuals have their own problems and their own story just like everyone else in this world and acknowledging their individuality when creating laws will be an important step in working towards a solution.

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