NYC, Patchogue rank as nasty to homeless
BY LAUREN TERRAZZANO
STAFF WRITER
January 11, 2006, 9:37 PM EST
Two national homeless advocacy groups have named New York City and Patchogue among 224 municipalities nationwide that are "meanest" to the homeless.
The report, "A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S." Citiesse released yesterday by the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, calculated specific city measures in 2005 that targeted homeless people, such as placing restrictions on loitering, panhandling and sleeping in public places, or an increase in sweeps of the homeless by law enforcement officials.
New York City made the top 20 -- at 14, -- while Patchogue, an incorporated village in Brookhaven Town, made the overall list, though not ranked specifically. The No. 1 city in the United States was Sarasota, Fla., for a controversial ordinance that outlaws sleeping outside at night -- used in the past two years to arrest more than 500 people even though it was declared unconstitutional.
Also on the list are Lawrence, Kan., Houston, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.
"Cities are increasingly criminalizing homelessness," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Many cities continue to pass so-called anti-homeless laws and selectively enforce these laws against the homeless."
Officials for both New York City and Patchogue denied that the cities are unfriendly to the homeless population.
New York City, ranked No. 6 last year, dropped to 14 and was cited by the groups for a crackdown on minor crimes such as fare beating; for instance, the groups pointed to arrests on the M35 bus last year. Many of the arrested bus riders were on their way to homeless shelters and five criminal court judges questioned the wisdom of the arrests, the report said.
"Regardless of how this 'report' ranks New York, our city is the most generous jurisdiction in the country when it comes to addressing the needs of at-risk and homeless citizens," said Angela Allen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services.
She cited homeless prevention measures such as a billion-dollar plan to create 9,000 supportive housing units for chronically homeless families and individuals.
Patchogue, which has made an economic turnaround in the past several years in its downtown, announced a law enforcement crackdown in 2005 of quality-of-life issues called "Operation Clean Sweep," using village constables and Suffolk police to conduct random, unannounced sweeps for loitering, panhandling and drinking in public. The village Justice Court also was opened on random weeknight and weekend evenings to arraign alleged violators.
"Are you unfriendly to those who may or may not be homeless or are you going to protect your residents? Clean Sweep had nothing to do with homelessness, but it was more about quality-of-life issues," said Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, who added that most of the arrests made have been for public drinking, urination or existing arrest warrants. "We have to make a decision for all our residents."
In downtown America, Stoops has noticed "a polarization between the business community and homeless people" and said it was growing.
A report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2005 found that 40 percent of homeless people live outside, while 60 percent live in shelters. In New York City, approximately 31,000 individuals are homeless, according to the city's Department of Homeless Services. On Long Island, officials said about 2,000 use the county networks of shelters, but advocates for the homeless said those numbers represent a small portion of the homeless population.
