Does Oklahoma Need a Homeless Court?
By William H. Hoch

As the housing crisis worsens throughout the United States, there are increased demands placed on emergency shelters without adequate shelter space to meet these increased needs. In 2005, 14 percent of overall emergency shelter requests went unmet and 32 percent of shelter requests by homeless families were unmet.1 There are more than 3.5 million Americans who will experience homelessness in a given year. Of these 3.5 million homeless Americans, 1.35 million are children — the fastest growing homeless population. More than half of these children are under the age of 6.2 Oklahoma is not immune.

Downtown Oklahoma City’s 2007 “Point-in-Time” count of the homeless was approximately 1,930, an increase of almost 500 homeless individuals in a two-year span. Tulsa’s “Point-in-Time” count in 2005 reported 524 homeless. Rural homelessness makes up approximately 9 percent of overall homeless population. In Oklahoma City, 28 percent met HUD’s definition of chronic homeless. Twenty-eight percent report mental illness. Thirty-nine percent report substance abuse and 19 percent report physical illness or disability.

THE PROBLEM

With these growing homeless populations, many communities turn to the criminal justice system to respond to individuals living in public spaces. This includes targeting persons by making it illegal to perform life-sustaining activities in public such as sleeping, eating, sitting in public spaces — with criminal penalties resulting from violation of these laws. People experiencing homelessness often receive citations for public nuisance offenses and then fail to appear in court for numerous reasons. Homeless defendants fail to appear in traditional courts, not because of a disregard for the court system but due to their status and condition.

For many homeless people, their day is consumed with a search for food, clothing and shelter. Most homeless persons are not in a position to fight the procedural or substantive issues a case presents. The homeless are aware that the court also requires a decent appearance. A homeless person with poor hygiene or without a place to store belongings may choose not to appear in court at all. Many homeless people are reluctant to attend court given the uncertainty of court proceedings and the threat of custody. Unresolved legal issues can ultimately preclude homeless people from accessing desperately needed services such as employment, housing, public assistance and treatment programs.

Essentially, this is criminalizing one’s status as homeless. Placing an individual in jail is usually 10 more times expensive than placing them in a shelter (and without constructive programs available such as AA or NA meetings and job training). There are better and more cost-effective solutions. One solution is the Homeless Court Program.

HOMELESS COURT PROGRAM

In 1989, San Diego started the first Homeless Court Program in the nation, a special Superior Court session held at local shelters for homeless defendants to resolve outstanding misdemeanor criminal cases. The homeless court was created in response to a survey conducted in San Diego, in which one in five homeless veterans requested help with the criminal justice system. To counteract the effect of criminal cases pushing homeless defendants further outside society, this court combines a progressive plea bargain system, alternative sentencing structure, assurance of “no custody” and proof of program activities, to address a full range of misdemeanor offenses and bring homeless individuals back into society.

Alternative sentencing substitutes participation in agency programs for fines and custody. These activities include life skills, chemical dependency or AA/NA meetings, computer or English literacy classes, training or search for employment, counseling or volunteer work. The court agreement of “no custody” acknowledges participants’ efforts in their program activities to satisfy court requirements. Homeless shelters and agencies in San Diego act as the gateway for participants to enter this court. Homeless persons who want to appear before this court sign up at participating local shelters.

Prospective participants work with a shelter caseworker to design a plan to move toward self-sufficiency. The shelter representatives write advocacy letters for each client. The advocacy letter is symbolic of the relationship between the client and the agency while including a description of the program, the client’s start date, and accomplishments, programs completed and insight into the client’s efforts.

HOMELESS COURT PROGRAM BENEFITS Homeless courts expand access to justice and reduce the number of hearings necessary to successfully complete court orders by integrating the shelter system into the “currency” participants present for sentencing. Advanced preparation and fewer hearings translate into efficiency during courtroom hours and reduced court costs.

Shelters and service agencies save precious resources when clients move toward self-sufficient lives with cleared criminal cases. Before the Homeless Court Program, a client might successfully complete the agency program only to be incarcerated on an outstanding criminal case and, afterward, return to homelessness. When cases are resolved through the homeless court, the homeless service providers do not have to redouble their efforts. The shelters address the underlying problems homelessness represents.

For participants, the court hearing is an opportunity to separate the past, as represented by the cases before the court, from the present (and future) by presenting the accomplishments described in the advocacy letters, along with plans for future improvement.

For the community, the homeless court helps the community by engaging homeless people in gainful activity, thereby removing them from doorways, parks and gathering places where they are unwanted and susceptible to arrest. It helps homeless people move back into productive lives by addressing the legal issues that often create barriers to accessing employment, housing, public assistance and treatment programs.

The American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty has led the effort to replicate homeless courts in communities where there is a need. Their efforts have been successful where homeless courts are presently operating in the following jurisdictions:

Arizona - Maricopa County, Phoenix, Pima County/Tucson

California - Alameda County, Bakersfield, Contra Costa, Fresno County, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Kern County, Orange County, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Santa Maria, Sonoma County, Ventura County

Colorado – Denver
Michigan - Ann Arbor
New Mexico - Bernalillo County/Albuquerque
Texas - Houston
Utah - Salt Lake City
Washington - Vancouver

Many other jurisdictions are examining the possibility of creating similar programs. Communities in Oklahoma should be among them. For more information about these efforts, go to www.abanet.org/homeless.

Note: A portion of this article was reprinted by permission of the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.

Note from Access to Justice Committee Chair Kade McClure: Last year our committee voted to create a subcommittee on homelessness recognizing the many unique issues affecting these folks in our state. Will Hoch heads this subcommittee and has been active in the Oklahoma City homeless community. Will was asked to submit this article in hopes of educating Oklahoma lawyers about homeless legal issues, suggesting solutions and eliciting feedback. Please share your thoughts with the committee on this important issue by e-mailing me at kade.mcclure@laok.org.

1. U.S. Conference of Mayors, A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities: A 24-City Survey 5 (Dec. 2005).
2. Martha Burt et al., Helping America’s Homeless 49-50 (The Urban Institute Press, 2001).