The Legally Trapped: a Perpetually Homeless Population
Of all the groups that end up on the street, no group is more likely to remain homeless than the population that has become homeless because of violations of civil and/or Constitutional rights in the legal system. Already rendered impoverished by a heartless system that metes out justice according to a person’s pocket more than a person’s innocence, the newly homeless now seek some means to right the wrongs through organizations that claim to help the needy obtain legal help but rarely do. It is at this stage that the words of King Solomon ring truer than ever, that wickedness in the place of justice becomes a grim reality for the homeless when they find that they have no friends at all.
In the District of Columbia, the Department of Mental Health takes a hard line when it comes to the legal problems of the homeless. Because, for some odd reason, all the homeless are by default classified as mentally ill in the District, the Department of Mental Health automatically pronounces the homeless as undeserving of legal assistance and categorically refuses to permit them to receive any legal assistance whatsoever within their network of services. The attitude, therefore, is officially “Take your meds and shut up,” with little room for any further comment. The result is that the core service agencies end up trying to resolve problems without addressing the causes, much like a physician trying to cure cancer while leaving the malignant growths in place. The end results are equally as successful; in such cases, little progress can be expected.
I can recall in my own case when I ended up on the street because every civil and Constitutional right I had was violated in the courts, and my case manager at Community Connections steadfastly refused to address the problem, reminding me clearly of the social worker in the song “Gee, Officer Krupke!” in West Side Story in which the social worker could not conceal her disgust for the juvenile delinquent in her presence. Much in the same manner, my case manager dealt with my problems, thereby convincing me that I was better off in another core service agency altogether. As I later went through all the various legal clinics, I discovered what a joke they all were, hearing the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and Neighborhood Legal Services tell me, “We can’t help you” when they really meant “We won’t help you.” I also went to Legal Aid and got incorrect advice – guess the DC Bar Association needs to learn the law – and to Bread for the City, where they wouldn’t take my case because it was in another jurisdiction – which it isn’t any more because I transferred it myself – and finally to the Archdiocesan Legal Network, where I had the most comical experience of them all. There, I went through a lengthy intake in which I mentioned all the legal clinics I had previously visited and related the details of my case; over a month later, I received a letter telling me that because of the urgency of my case, I was being referred to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless long after the hearing date of the case for which I had approached them! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. (To date, I have only heard of one person who ever received legal representation through any of the various legal clinics, and when I heard that he was sitting on a multi-million dollar estate that he was considered unfit to manage, suddenly I knew the reason the legal clinic was willing to help him; with so much money involved, I felt I had solved the mystery.)
As an update, I should mention that purely through hearsay and through word of mouth, I found my own solutions and was able to do my own filings, to move my own case from local court into federal court, all things I could have done on my own within the first few months had someone only told me how to do the procedures. All I needed was the information from some people in the know. Why I had to wait for eighteen months to get that information from lay people when several legal clinics staffed by practicing lawyers could not do the same job is totally beyond me, and I have to wonder just how many other people are in the same boat and end up marooned in shelters for years on end with legal problems who could have solved their problems and moved on. I am willing to wager that there are many more like me, many who have probably waited far longer and still are clueless that there are solutions available that are far simpler than they ever imagined.
I am not the only person who has such a story. I have met many others in my shelter and others who are caught in legal tangles and just want somebody to help them untangle the mess, but they have nowhere to turn. The Department of Mental Health remains intransigent on the subject. Many times I have been shocked by the rudeness of employees at the various core service agencies when I have spoken to them about the topic; their responses range from cluelessness to outright belligerence. If the problem cannot be solved in the mental health network, these persons maintain it does not deserve attention at all. However, the legal problems remain very real, and they do not go away. These chronically homeless persons still need help and continue to wait until their problems can receive the proper attention. Playing ostrich is not going to solve the problem; it has not solved the problem for years and will not in the future, either. Nor will chanting the now-popular mantra “Get a job, loser” help, as that is hardly the issue; for many of these people, getting a job would mean sticking their necks out and having their heads chopped off. These people are not looking to live on the dole; they are looking to stay alive. Some of them truly live in danger and seek legal protection but are just told to keep taking their medication as if they are imagining their problems. As a person who has faced legal problems that have seemed insurmountable, I can affirm that there is nothing imaginary about such problems; they can be daunting enough to make a person feel like giving up on life entirely.
Allegedly, every citizen of the United States is protected by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. However, as I saw myself, people can be devastated in the lower courts and may have to battle for years before they can find the protection that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights offer in the legal system. Between the ideal and the reality is a huge gap, and in that gap lie many, many homeless people who are waiting and hoping that they will not be forgotten.
Copyright © 2005
In the District of Columbia, the Department of Mental Health takes a hard line when it comes to the legal problems of the homeless. Because, for some odd reason, all the homeless are by default classified as mentally ill in the District, the Department of Mental Health automatically pronounces the homeless as undeserving of legal assistance and categorically refuses to permit them to receive any legal assistance whatsoever within their network of services. The attitude, therefore, is officially “Take your meds and shut up,” with little room for any further comment. The result is that the core service agencies end up trying to resolve problems without addressing the causes, much like a physician trying to cure cancer while leaving the malignant growths in place. The end results are equally as successful; in such cases, little progress can be expected.
I can recall in my own case when I ended up on the street because every civil and Constitutional right I had was violated in the courts, and my case manager at Community Connections steadfastly refused to address the problem, reminding me clearly of the social worker in the song “Gee, Officer Krupke!” in West Side Story in which the social worker could not conceal her disgust for the juvenile delinquent in her presence. Much in the same manner, my case manager dealt with my problems, thereby convincing me that I was better off in another core service agency altogether. As I later went through all the various legal clinics, I discovered what a joke they all were, hearing the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and Neighborhood Legal Services tell me, “We can’t help you” when they really meant “We won’t help you.” I also went to Legal Aid and got incorrect advice – guess the DC Bar Association needs to learn the law – and to Bread for the City, where they wouldn’t take my case because it was in another jurisdiction – which it isn’t any more because I transferred it myself – and finally to the Archdiocesan Legal Network, where I had the most comical experience of them all. There, I went through a lengthy intake in which I mentioned all the legal clinics I had previously visited and related the details of my case; over a month later, I received a letter telling me that because of the urgency of my case, I was being referred to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless long after the hearing date of the case for which I had approached them! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. (To date, I have only heard of one person who ever received legal representation through any of the various legal clinics, and when I heard that he was sitting on a multi-million dollar estate that he was considered unfit to manage, suddenly I knew the reason the legal clinic was willing to help him; with so much money involved, I felt I had solved the mystery.)
As an update, I should mention that purely through hearsay and through word of mouth, I found my own solutions and was able to do my own filings, to move my own case from local court into federal court, all things I could have done on my own within the first few months had someone only told me how to do the procedures. All I needed was the information from some people in the know. Why I had to wait for eighteen months to get that information from lay people when several legal clinics staffed by practicing lawyers could not do the same job is totally beyond me, and I have to wonder just how many other people are in the same boat and end up marooned in shelters for years on end with legal problems who could have solved their problems and moved on. I am willing to wager that there are many more like me, many who have probably waited far longer and still are clueless that there are solutions available that are far simpler than they ever imagined.
I am not the only person who has such a story. I have met many others in my shelter and others who are caught in legal tangles and just want somebody to help them untangle the mess, but they have nowhere to turn. The Department of Mental Health remains intransigent on the subject. Many times I have been shocked by the rudeness of employees at the various core service agencies when I have spoken to them about the topic; their responses range from cluelessness to outright belligerence. If the problem cannot be solved in the mental health network, these persons maintain it does not deserve attention at all. However, the legal problems remain very real, and they do not go away. These chronically homeless persons still need help and continue to wait until their problems can receive the proper attention. Playing ostrich is not going to solve the problem; it has not solved the problem for years and will not in the future, either. Nor will chanting the now-popular mantra “Get a job, loser” help, as that is hardly the issue; for many of these people, getting a job would mean sticking their necks out and having their heads chopped off. These people are not looking to live on the dole; they are looking to stay alive. Some of them truly live in danger and seek legal protection but are just told to keep taking their medication as if they are imagining their problems. As a person who has faced legal problems that have seemed insurmountable, I can affirm that there is nothing imaginary about such problems; they can be daunting enough to make a person feel like giving up on life entirely.
Allegedly, every citizen of the United States is protected by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. However, as I saw myself, people can be devastated in the lower courts and may have to battle for years before they can find the protection that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights offer in the legal system. Between the ideal and the reality is a huge gap, and in that gap lie many, many homeless people who are waiting and hoping that they will not be forgotten.
posted by MasterWriter at 3:51 p.m.
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