Criminalizing Survival: Why Punishing Homelessness Makes Communities Less Safe

Every night, thousands of people across the country go to sleep without safety, privacy, or stability. But what’s even harder to believe is that in many cities, just trying to survive - sleeping outside, resting on a sidewalk, or setting up a tent - can be treated as a crime.

Through my research, I’ve learned that laws like these are still incredibly common. They are often framed as tools to keep communities “clean” or “safe,” but in reality, they do the opposite. Instead of solving homelessness, they hide it and push people farther from the help they need.

How Cities Justify Criminalization

City officials often claim these laws protect public safety or support local businesses. They argue that fines, police sweeps, or “move-along” orders help maintain order. But when you look closer, these actions do not make streets safer. They make life harder for those who have nowhere else to go.

Sara Rankin, a law professor at Seattle University who studies housing and poverty, writes in the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review that many cities now rely on civil punishments such as tickets or exclusions to target unhoused people. These measures might seem less harsh than jail, but they serve the same purpose: to make homelessness invisible.

It is easy to call these policies “neutral,” but they mostly push people out of sight rather than helping them find stability.

The Human Cost of “Clean Streets”

In many cities, police sweeps and enforcement actions destroy what little people own: tents, blankets, medicine, and identification. Rankin describes how personal items are often seized or thrown away without warning. For someone living outside, losing those things means starting over completely, again and again.

These actions do not build safety or trust. They build trauma. Each fine and each displacement makes it harder for people to climb out of homelessness. Without ID, they cannot apply for housing or jobs. Without medication, their health declines. Without stability, recovery becomes nearly impossible.

This cycle traps people in the very situation the laws claim to fix.

Invisible Punishment

Not all harm shows up on paper. Rankin calls this invisible persecution, the daily acts of harassment, over-policing, and displacement that happen without official records.

When I first read that phrase, it stayed with me. Cities often issue “move-along” orders that leave no trace. There is no citation or paper trail, only another person forced to leave a place they tried to rest. Because these encounters are not tracked, cities can easily ignore them and claim that conditions are improving when they are not.

Some cities even encourage residents to report encampments through 311 apps or online forms. This turns community members into enforcers, creating more stigma and less understanding.

What Safety Looks Like

Real public safety does not come from punishment. It comes from stability, housing, and community support.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that Housing First programs, which provide permanent housing without preconditions, reduce chronic homelessness and save cities money in emergency and policing costs. When people have a stable place to live, they are more likely to find employment, manage health conditions, and reconnect with family.

When cities invest in housing and mental-health services instead of fines and arrests, everyone benefits. People get the help they need, and neighborhoods become safer and more compassionate.

Criminalizing homelessness might make public spaces look cleaner for a moment, but it does not make communities stronger. Real progress happens when we stop treating homelessness as a crime and start treating it as a human crisis. Everyone deserves to be seen, to be safe, and to have a place to call home.