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 1. Inclusion of housing status in the pending state and federal hate crimes legislation.
2. Awareness training at police academies and departments nationwide for trainees and police officers about the causes and solutions to homelessness and how to deal effectively and humanely with people experiencing homelessness in their communities.
3. Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureaus (made up of homeless and formerly homeless people) become established in communities around the country. Speakers would visit both public and private schools in communities for the purposes of information and education, as young people perpetrate a significant portion of the violence against homeless persons. For more help and technical assistance in establishing a Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau in your community, contact Michael O’Neill, Project Director, at: Ph. (202) 462-4822 x20; Email: moneill@nationalhomeless.org, or visit http://www.nationalhomeless.org/faces
4. A public statement by the U.S. Department of Justice acknowledging that hate crimes and/or violence against people experiencing homelessness is a serious national trend.
5. The U.S. Department of Justice issues guidelines for local police on how to investigate and work with people experiencing homelessness based on recommendations from the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. The U.S. Department of Justice recommends improvements to state law on how to better protect against violence directed at people experiencing homelessness, including tougher penalties.
6. With the assistance of the National Coalition for the Homeless, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, and criminal justice professionals, add “housing status” information to the checklist of data maintained as part of the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) maintained by the FBI. Similar efforts should be undertaken by state uniform crime reporting (UCR) agencies.
7. A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study into the nature and scope of hate crimes and/or violent acts and crimes that occur against people experiencing homelessness. This proposed study will address the following:
- Causes of hate crimes/violence.
- Circumstances that contribute to or were responsible for the perpetrators’ behavior.
- Beliefs held by the perpetrators of these crimes and how their beliefs have changed since conviction.
- Thoughts and advice from the perpetrators to others who are considering hate crimes/violence against the homeless population.
- Factors in the community that may be contributing to targeting of homeless persons, such as measures that criminalize homelessness.
- Contributing factors to homeless persons’ vulnerability, such as lack of adequate shelter or housing, and ways to address those factors.
- Community education, prevention, and law enforcement strategies.
8. Cities should implement more constructive approaches to homelessness and not implement or enforce criminalization measures.
9. Our federal, state, and local governments should prioritize creating and providing adequate affordable housing and services to bring an end to homelessness in our communities.
-NCH
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