The report, “Banished and Abandoned: Criminalization and Displacement of Unhoused People in Lancaster,” contends the city is “at war” with those living on the streets and has pushed many of them to harsh, isolated and life-threatening conditions in the Mojave Desert.
“Responding to homelessness by criminalizing, banishing and disenfranchising our unhoused neighbors is unlawful and potentially deadly,” said Eve Garrow, homelessness policy analyst and advocate at the ACLU SoCal. “It must stop now.”
A message left with Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris was not immediately answered. A sheriff’s department representative did not immediately respond with a comment.
Parris told the Los Angeles Times, however, that the city has acted in accordance with an appeals court ruling that bars the arrest of homeless people for sleeping in public if no shelter space is provided. He told the paper the city has provided various services for the homeless, including the 14- acre Kensington Campus that includes shelter, permanent housing, jobs and counseling.
“I’m trying to create an environment where people who are disabled can thrive,” the mayor told The LA Times. “I’m not going to just let people live wherever they want, camp where they want, extort money from people who are shopping.”
According to the ACLU report, homeless people in Lancaster are subject to harassment and exorbitant fines for doing as little as sitting in a public park for a few minutes or sleeping outdoors — something authors said is unavoidable for people who have no access to housing or shelter.
People experiencing homelessness make up only 1.3% of Lancaster’s population, according to a U.S. Census report cited by the ACLU, but they represent more than 25% of sheriff’s department contacts in the city that result in municipal citations, with fines usually far beyond a person’s means to pay, the ACLU contends.
The report makes several recommendations, including removing laws that make criminals of unhoused people simply for sleeping outside or engaging in survival strategies to stay alive. It also called on the city of Lancaster to stop forcibly moving and banishing homeless people, stop seizing and destroying personal property, and invest in affordable and permanent supportive housing.
The ACLU report details alleged violations of the U.S. and California Constitutions in the treatment of unhoused people in Lancaster, including restricting their movements, denying them due process, and inflicting cruel and unusual punishment for human conduct as basic as seeking refuge in the shade.
More than 50 people who are homeless in the city and its surrounding area in the Mojave Desert — whether living in tents, cars, or sleeping on the ground — were interviewed over a nearly two-year period for the report, according to the ACLU.
Nearly all those interviewed outside city limits said law enforcement officers had given them a direct order or firm “suggestion” to relocate, though some chose to do so in an attempt to escape harassment. Because sheriff deputies also patrol unincorporated areas outside Lancaster, the harassment often continues, according to the report.
Melissa Ivory, who told ACLU researchers she was banished to the high desert by Lancaster city workers and the LASD, said the city “left us with no vote and no voice. We are like a piece of wind that carries a voice, but it is not heard at all.”
The ACLU and the UC Irvine Consumer Law Clinic sued the city this month alleging that Lancaster’s practice of assessing fines of up to $1,000 for violations of anti-homeless laws is unconstitutional. View the full ACLU report here.
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Mindy says
… robbing renters of the fruits of their labor, those sprawling apartment complexes evolved, to become de facto slave labor camps.
My first one bedroom apartment cost US$225 a month. Hard to believe, for a lousy 2 bedroom apartment these days, the corporations wringing their renters a cool US$1,700 a month, roughly equates to US$9.88 an hour, prox. If you rent, your first 10 bux an hour you make, goes directly to California landowners.
Those apartment complexes are poverty traps. The only way out, rubbing two US$12 hour jobs together, marrying out of poverty.
There is not enough tax revenue in California sufficient to pay corporation landowners to house every a homeless person in California.
Bernice says
How many billions did Obama gift to Iran? Passing the buck, 8 years in office, not one pinky finger did he lift to ameliorate homeless.
Matt says
Wow
Really? Obama??? Lol.
Let it go. He is gone. My gosh, I laugh at Dems not letting Trump go. Speaking of, what exactly did he do for the homeless, since u seem to be ok with him? Dont answer, cause he is gone. Homeless gets handled at more of a local level, not federal. Relax!!! Trashing Obama again!?!?! Lol.
Stinger says
Yep. Thanks, Matt.
Democrat Dave says
Those billions given to Iran were their dollars that were frozen for years. It wasn’t your little tax dollar that went there.
Another Republican/Fox News lie that you thought was real.
AV Illegal says
Since when does a government send billions to a foreign country in the dark of night in cash on pallets. If it was on the level, and just a payback for some frozen assets, it would have been unfrozen.
Matt, Dave, Stinger….you are the one who has truly sucked down the Koolaid.
Ok, bashing session is open…..
melissa says
What has happened civility? If you don’t agree,support your arguments with evidence from real sources, not slanted website opinions and your friend’s opinions
AV Illegal says
Not frozen. It was a payback for items bought but not received. Iran supposedly bought 400 mil in weapons that didn’t get delivered. The payback was for the 400 mil plus interest…….1.8 billion. Pretty lucrative. Oh, and just happened to a deal wherein some prisoners were released from Iran. That was the controversy then…..putting a price on Americans. Need some cash, kidnap an American.
“In the 1970s, Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations ruptured. After the nuclear deal, the U.S. and Iran announced they had settled the matter, with the U.S. agreeing to pay the $400 million principal along with about $1.3 billion in interest”.
Stinger says
And what, exactly, does your typically trumplican distraction post about Iran have to do with the subject at hand of homelessness in the AV? Nothing, of course!
OKFine says
Mental illness
Drug/Substance Abuse
Poor decision making
How does this report help address the underlying causes of homelessness? I would like to see one single report that looks at how people became homeless and what we as a society can do to address these causes instead of the symptoms.
Without addressing underlying causes homelessness will always be in our society and increasing.
reform says
OKFine: There are plenty of places you can research to help you understand how people become homeless. You already have your mind made up as to the causes, but there is so much more involved. I can tell you there are millions of people that have a roof over their heads that are mentally ill, addicted to something, and make poor choices, but it’s not in your face like someone you see on the streets. Our elected politicians make poor choices on a daily basis affecting this society; Republicans and Democrats tearing this nation apart by constant feuding, and on and on.
Homelessness is not a crime says
These are all valid points and need to be addressed. It does not excuse an out of control Mayor who suggests that people shoot the homeless if they try to rob you, nor does it make it ok to attempt to criminalize homelessness.
A lot of the problems could have been resolved if the decision was made to refurbish the County facility on Avenue I instead of building Kensington. A no cost shelter that housed 1,400 and provided services, would do much more than a building that houses a couple hundred and requires rent. But with Rex, it is all about taking care of your contributors.
DeadMenTellNoTales says
Nobody has to “suggest” me shooting a homeless person if they tried to rob me!
Trust me. IT WILL HAPPEN!!!!
One bullet between a MF’s eyes!
Compassion Needed says
You would make an excellent Rex puppet. You have the same amount of compassion and sense as our lying leader.
Stinger says
Okay, silly boy… what if it’s NOT a homeless person trying to rob you? Does that, somehow, change the actions you would take? Do you ask a person robbing you if they are homeless before duly defending yourself?
Your post was meaningless posturing.
Now then, do you have any actual ideas on solving this community issue?
OKFine says
I think you don’t appreciate that the community in general does not want an influx of homeless people to the area attracted by a new 1,400 bed facility. Call it NIMBY, call it Un-Christian, call it what you want, but there is little community support for encouraging more homeless people to come to the AV. TRex merely reflects that point of view for the vast majority of voters who elected him.
Take a look at the People’s Republic of Santa Monica. Used to be nice places, are now overrun by homeless. Same goes for many cities all over the basin. Many cities on the West Coast struggle with this issue, and the liberal “give them more and more” approach to the problem is being proven to not work in helping the homeless.
Unless there are treatment and other support services for the homeless in the area, a majority of tax paying productive society don’t want anything to do with encourage the homeless to make their town “home” for the dregs of society.
AV Illegal says
It is a nice little piece of propaganda. Probably cost a bit to print it so nicely.
When I see billions going to Pakistan for gender studies, billions going to museums, Kennedy center and so on, all under the heading of COVID relief, I wonder…..what if even half of that politically hacked money was applied to the homeless issue.
Instead of helping our own, the government is handing our funds to other countries for gender studies, and special supporters.
Kevin says
You’re right. You do need help.
Lily says
As a tax paying Christian, I am thankful I can give back to those less fortunate, what has been given to me by God. I can’t solve the problem but I can do my part to try to be more Christ-like in my daily journey in life.
Sick & tired says
There are plenty of programs out there to help! Nobody has an issue with that. However, I draw the line on seeing these people camped out everywhere and littering and leaving a disgusting mess everywhere they go. Like I said, the help is there! Many of them just want to do drugs and be a burden on society rather than fix themselves.
Lily for Mayor says
Lily, it is a shame that you are not our mayor. You would build a true Christian city, not the phony facade that Rex has created.
Darius White says
“More than 50 people who are homeless…were interviewed over a nearly two-year period for the report.” How many tax-paying home owners in Lancaster were interviewed to provide a counterpoint of THEIR first-hand experiences with our homeless population? There are two (in most cases, three) sides to every story, but it seems that only one side ever gets told by the “special interest” groups.
Just wondering…
Seriously says
If they were asking about how often the people get ticketed by LASD how would that apply to a home owner?
Critical thinking is a blessing.
Home says
Eve Garrow should house some homeless people.