Banning homeless

Norm Ciha says he lost his bedding, clothes and the medicine he'd been prescribed to treat hepatitis C during a sweep of his camp outside an Ikea in Emeryville, Calif., in November 2018.

Science
Health & Safety

Sweeps Of Homeless Camps In California Aggravate Key Health Issues

11:50am January 10, 2020

by Anna Maria Barry-Jester

Cities have tasked police and sanitation workers with dismantling homeless camps that they say pose a risk to health and safety. But that's meant some displaced people are losing needed medications.

San Francisco police officers wait while homeless people collect their belongings. Nearly a quarter of the country's homeless population lives in California.

National

Supreme Court Won't Hear Case On Ban Against Homeless Sleeping In Public Spaces

2:39pm December 16, 2019

The denial upholds a lower court ruling that put severe limits on cities' ability to enforce anti-camping ordinances on streets and in public rights of way. Advocates for the homeless lauded the move.

Under Las Vegas' new law, people found sleeping in public areas affected by the rules could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

National

Las Vegas Bans Sleeping, Camping in Public Places

6:42pm November 07, 2019

by Bobby Allyn

Homeless activists swarmed the Las Vegas City Council chambers chanting, "Housing, not handcuffs!" The mayor said the measure is necessary in order to address a homeless problem that is not abating.