freedomunited.org

Do you think being homeless and sleeping outside is a Crime? Location: Louisiana Louisiana is pushing a bill that would make sleeping outside illegal. If someone can’t afford the fines, they could be made to do unpaid labor instead. Is it just us or does it actually sounds more like punishment for being poor? Homelessness usually comes from rising rent, job loss, mental health struggles, disability, domestic violence, or lack of support. None of that gets solved by jail cells, fines, or forced work. And once someone gets arrested, life often gets harder: harder to find housing, harder to get hired, but way easier to get trapped in the same cycle again. There’s also an uncomfortable history here. In the US, poverty has often been criminalized first, then used to justify cheap labor later. If sleeping outside because you have nowhere else to go becomes a crime, what exactly is being punished — the act, or the poverty? Read more here : [https://www.freedomunited.org/news/louisiana-bill-poverty-forced-labor/](https://www.freedomunited.org/news/louisiana-bill-poverty-forced-labor/)