Photo by rjs1322.
A majority of homeless people in D.C. experience discrimination from private businesses and law enforcement agencies, according to a new report, showing the need for legal protection for this vulnerable group.
A survey conducted by National Coalition for the Homeless, with help from graduate students from George Washington University, found that 70.4 percent of homeless people experience discrimination from private businesses and 66.6 percent from law enforcement agencies. The numbers were lower for medical services (49.7 percent) and social services (43.7 percent).
“Homeless individuals have long told staff at NCH that they have experienced discrimination related to their housing status despite current legal protections,” the report states. “The survey cannot confirm that discrimination actually happened since our research did not investigate specific incidents, yet it finds that a high percentage of homeless individuals believe they have been discriminated against through similar encounters with law enforcement, private businesses, medical services and social services agencies.”
According to NCH, 142 people were surveyed — 110 men and 32 women ranging in age from 20 to 77 who were primarily African American — during the fall of 2013.
The report recommends that D.C. pass a Homeless Bill of Rights. Michael Stoops, the Director of Community Organizing at NCH, tells DCist that the city’s anti-discrimination law does not currently include homeless people. There are “three vague categories that might conceivably be related to homelessness,” Stoops said: People cannot be discriminated against “due to personal appearance,” “source of income” or “place of residence or business.”
“We think that there’s a discrimination issue out there and that the ‘h’ word should be added categorically to D.C.’s discrimination law,” Stoops said.
The first step in making this happen was conducting “an academically, scientifically sound” study and collecting stories from the homeless, Stoops said. The NCH now plans to launch a campaign to call for the passage of a Homeless Bill of Rights and will meet with stakeholders — like the Office of Human Rights and Councilmembers — this summer to draft legislation. That legislation, Stoops said, would be D.C.-specific.
In D.C., for example, homeless citizens have issues with not just one law enforcement agency, but multiples ones. Stoops said theBill of Rights would have language to provide for programs, training, penalties and protocol for law enforcement officials. While the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless trains members of the Metropolitan Police Department and Park Police, that still leaves several agencies like the Amtrak Police Department and Homeland Security.
There’s also a public space issue in D.C., where “homeless people are being told to move along.” Stoops said “that’s a very common occurrence in Washington, D.C.”
“We’re moving quickly,” he said. “Over the course of the summer, we will have legislation drafted.”
See the report below.
