Urban campers literature search

Right at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I did research for my neighborhood in Atlanta regarding what social policies and policing policies might be effective at eliminating urban camps.  Our immediate neighborhoods have homelessness rates 5-10 times that of the US, Georgia, or surrounding counties and cities.  The degree of homelessness was clearly an Atlanta issue rather than a general issue.

The research was very revealing.  The primary findings were that you can solve the issue of urban camping simply through law enforcement.  The degree of urban camping is primarily a political decision.  Social policies on their own are ineffective due to the difficulty of getting urban campers to avail themselves of what is available.  Voluntary take up rates are 5-10%.  

It seems logical that the most humane approach is to effectively enforce the law and then divert those who are urban campers into appropriate wrap-around services such as health, mental health, substance abuse, temporary economic assistance, etc.  For more than the past decade, unsheltered homelessness has been in decline across the nation at the same time that it has exploded in California, New York and a handful of large blue cities.  These are policy consequences.

I have made the research available here.  A summary:

Goal

  

How do we achieve a reduction in urban camps and the crime that goes with them while also ensuring that the homeless receive the treatments and services they need?

Findings

National decline in homelessness - 11% decline in the decade through 2019.  50% decline in veteran homelessness and 32% decline in family homelessness.

Homelessness is very geographically concentrated - New York and California are 21% of the nation in terms of population but generate 43% of the homelessness.  Those two states plus another dozen or so major cities account for the majority of homelessness. 

Critical protections of freedom are an important barrier to treatment - People cannot easily be committed for their own welfare.  They can be offered supporting services (mental health services, substance abuse services, health services, economic assistance, shelter, child welfare services, etc.) but unless they are voluntarily accepted, there is little that can be done. 

Acceptance by the homeless of wrap-around services is markedly low - It varies by jurisdiction but it appears to be pretty tightly limited to 5-15% take-up rates.

There is a high correlation between urban camps and crime - In Portland, Oregon, 41% of all city crime is committed within one block of urban camps.  Reduction in  urban camps is a crime reduction strategy.

Urban camps are associated with the built environment and crime - The more permeable a neighborhood is, the more entrances and exits, the more connecting trails, the more accessible, the higher the crime rate.  In the five neighborhoods, virtually all the urban camps are within a couple of hundred yards of connecting trails running through those neighborhoods.

Homelessness is not connected to the economic cycle or relative state prosperity - In the great recession of 2008-9, homelessness declined.  The poorest states have some of our lowest homelessness rates in the nation.

Moral hazard is a real challenge in some jurisdictions - Los Angeles is among the best examples.  The more services they offer the worse has become their homeless rate.

Most jurisdictions have plentiful programs for wrap-around services but are challenged by coordination - State and Local agencies, Federal programs, non-governmental organizations, foundations, churches, etc. all provide many services for many conditions afflicting the homeless.  Each also tends to have their own mission, their own measures of success which do not necessarily align well with the goal of reducing the number of camps, reducing crime associated with camps or reintegration into society. 

Multi-causal barriers - Services to the homeless have to be highly tailored to individual circumstances.  Little opportunity for a cookie-cutter approach.  Any single urban camper may have mental health conditions and/or physical health conditions and/or substance abuse issues and/or employability challenges, etc.  The appropriate mix and staging of services is critical to increase the odds of proper preparation for reintegration. 

Jurisdictional policies drive differences in homelessness rates - Jurisdictions immediately adjacent to one another have dramatically different homelessness rates.  For example, the national average is 10.0 homeless/10,000 residents.  Georgia's is slightly below that at 9.9/10,000.  City of Atlanta is 64.6/10,000 while the immediately adjacent counties of Dekalb, Cobb, and Fulton are 5.2, 6.0 and 10.8 respectively.  The five neighborhoods have a homelessness rate of 58/10,000 while immediately adjacent Brookhaven has 7.0/10,000

Conclusions 

Police action alone can reduce urban camping and urban camp crime.  Whether treatment goes with that police action varies by jurisdiction.  However, in some cases, enforcement is simply relocating the homeless population from the streets to prisons.

Services alone do not address either reduction in camps and crime nor does it ensure treatment.  As long as treatment can be refused, there is no improvement in either homelessness or material improvement in treatment.

Lesson Learned From Other Jurisdictions

What seems would work to achieve lower crime, fewer urban camps and better treatment for urban campers is a four prong strategy.

Police enforcement, prosecution and conviction.

Diversion from prison sentences into treatment programs.an

Coordinated wrap-around services through a case worker system to ensure appropriate treatment and reintegration into society.

Strong measurement program to ensure money invested in those services achieves the outcomes desired (reduced camps, reduced crime, and better rehabilitation treatment). 

It is worth noting that HUD delivered its 2021 report on sheltered and unsheltered homelessness for 2021.  They reported an 8% decline in sheltered homelessness and no change in the unsheltered homeless.