Written by Samantha Meng
May 7th, 2023
Throughout American history, the government enacted many policies to penalize those living in poverty. Historically enforced in the South, these laws gained traction after the emancipation of slaves. One of the first instances of this was the Vagrancy Act of 1866 which forced those who were either jobless or homeless to work, uncompensated. As part of the systematic marginalization of African Americans, these laws were just one of many in a series of policies known as the Black Codes.
Today, we see a glimpse of these antiquated laws in practices that restrict movement in public spaces.
Public Space: Public spaces are places that are open to the public. For example, roads, parks, and the sidewalk are public spaces.
Public spaces are important because they facilitate interactions between people in a community. They can help foster connections, and build relationships. However, while public spaces are supposed to be available for all, many groups of people are restricted and excluded from the use of public spaces.
California Penal Code § 647(e) states that it is a crime for people to be found lodging in a public or private place without explicit permission (California Legislature). Additionally, due to the discretion police have in regards to enforcing laws, those penalized under modern vagrancy laws are disproportionately mentally ill, male, or African American (Foundations of Law and Society). In this way, cities are able to criminalize poverty and homelessness, while doing very little to mitigate the impacts of these social inequities.
In Orange County, vagrancy and loitering laws are used by police to move homeless people from one location to another. Cities like Irvine and Long Beach are particularly hostile to homeless people and often conduct sweeps, which further exacerbates the problem of homelessness and poverty. Yet, homelessness should not be seen as a sign of public disarray, and rather a reflection of public policy failures in the provision of adequate safety nets and social services.
Nonetheless, this raises the question: why are homeless people less entitled to public space? And more importantly, if constituents find “disorder” (used loosely to encapsulate contemporary attitudes towards homelessness) within cities to be a problem, in what ways can we address homelessness while keeping public spaces accessible to all?
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