America's 10 Meanest Cities

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-07-16 11:21:00 UTC
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As if living without a home isn't bad enough, in some cities, it's practically a crime.

Bans on loitering, laying down on the sidewalk, or "public feedings" are not only downright mean, but they are becoming more common. In the past two years, there has been an upward trend nationally in the number of city laws that control the homeless - intentionally or not.

That's according to a new report released this week by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless. The report looked at ordinances in 224 cities across the U.S. from 2007 and 2008 to develop a list of the meanest cities towards the homeless.

Drumroll please... the Top 10 Meanest U.S. Cities are:

  1. Los Angeles, CA

  2. St. Petersburg. FL

  3. Orlando, FL

  4. Atlanta, GA

  5. Gainesville, FL

  6. Kalamazoo, MI

  7. San Francisco, CA

  8. Honolulu, HI

  9. Bradenton, FL

  10. Berkeley, CA

Take a look at the report to see where your hometown falls on the list.

While it's always tempting to cite outrageous examples of laws cities develop to control their homeless, it is even more unsettling to look at the larger trends in this report. Nationally, there has been an 11 percent increase in laws prohibiting loitering in certain public places and a 7 percent increase in laws prohibiting "camping" in certain public spaces. This, of course, comes at a time when homeless numbers are up and shelters are full.

Who ever said homelessness was not a human rights issue?

Perhaps NPR said it best: "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Just make sure they don't huddle and mass in public places."

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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