100 signatures reached
To: Local Elects
Housing Not Handcuffs
"It is possible to acknowledge and balance the issues facing local governments, the humanity and dignity of homeless people, and our constitutional principles. Instead, the majority focuses almost exclusively on the needs of local governments and leaves the most vulnerable in our society with an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested" -- Supreme Justice Sotomayor
Rochester is in the midst of a housing crisis. Criminalizing homelessness via sweeps causes a cascade of harm. Homelessness and poverty are a policy choice and, due to political inaction, the unhoused community has been forced to develop their own intervention (encampments). For those living outside, encampments have become the best-case solution for staying alive.
Rochester is in the midst of a housing crisis. Criminalizing homelessness via sweeps causes a cascade of harm. Homelessness and poverty are a policy choice and, due to political inaction, the unhoused community has been forced to develop their own intervention (encampments). For those living outside, encampments have become the best-case solution for staying alive.
We demand the current administration:
- STOP THE SWEEPS OR INEFFECTIVE “RELOCATIONS”
- Commit to realistic interventions and resources that meet the need.
- Create/share inclusive policies, procedures, and practices that protect the dignity of those living outside.
- Create more sustainable and inclusive housing options.
- Commit to engaging and collaborating with members of the houseless community to develop a realistic needs assessment.
Why is this important?
Rochester is in the midst of a housing crisis. Current resources do not meet the current needs.
- There are 635 homeless adults and 570 beds for adults (without children).
- There are 415 families living homeless with children and 310 beds.
For many houseless people, there is nowhere to go instead of living outdoors.
The current administration firmly believes they are conducting simple "relocations". By technical definition, a homeless sweep is, "the forced disbanding of homeless encampments on public property and the removal of both homeless individuals and their property from that area." The administration sends outreach workers, police and dump trucks into encampments, leaving our chronically homeless community with no safe space and without any belongings. Regardless of the label, in practice the current administration is conducting sweeps.