{"id":6406,"date":"2019-06-05T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6406"},"modified":"2020-06-22T19:54:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T19:54:15","slug":"the-pottinger-agreement-abolished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6406","title":{"rendered":"The Pottinger Agreement Abolished"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Rupal Ramesh Shah<\/em><\/h6>\n

The homeless are once again set up to struggle against the city of Miami and its police as the Pottinger Agreement was abolished in federal court on Feb. 15, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

The city claimed, in its legal filing to end the agreement, that it had created numerous homeless outreach services including shelter beds, new jail-diversion programs for the homeless and mentally ill, and the creation of a full-time Department of Veterans Affairs and Homeless Services. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno said these multiple shelters and social services form a safety net for the homeless rendering the specific protections in the Pottinger Agreement unnecessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
“One set of constraints mentioned in the legal filing was their inability to search homeless people\u2019s belongings for bombs or weapons \u2014 which they say is necessary to keep everyone safe…\u201d<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez supported Moreno\u2019s decision. Gonzalez said in a news release, \u201cThe circumstances today have changed, and the Pottinger Agreement restricts the City from acting in the best interest of homeless persons and residents in general. Without the constraints of the Pottinger Agreement we can better provide services for the homeless with dignity and compassion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One set of constraints mentioned in the legal filing was their inability to search homeless people\u2019s belongings for bombs or weapons \u2014 \u00a0which they say is necessary to keep everyone safe \u2014 as the agreement was written before Sept. 11 and the Boston Marathon bombing.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Miami New Times<\/a>, even with the Pottinger Agreement in place, the homeless have continued to suffer as the police have harassed the homeless on more than one occasion. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) \u00a0stated that the Pottinger Agreement is necessary<\/a> and have continued to advocate for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The agreement came about from a class action lawsuit by 5,000 homeless individuals and the ACLU against the city of Miami in 1988. After ten years, in 1998, the city settled on the agreement which ensured that the police could not arrest the homeless or destroy their belongings. Instead, they had to give the homeless a chance to enter a shelter before arresting them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben Waxman, the ACLU attorney who worked on the 1988 Pottinger lawsuit, told Miami New Times<\/a> that the city has been trying to sweep the homeless out of the downtown area for months with \u201crecent aggressive gentrification\u201d raising property values. The city\u2019s attorneys had also stated another reason to end the Pottinger Agreement is due to the growth of the residential population and commercial activity in Miami. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe rapid gentrification of Miami in the 20 years since the signing of the Pottinger Agreement does not mean that the city can return to the failed policy of trying to use the criminal justice system to address homelessness in Miami,\u201d continued Waxman, who is also the lead counsel in the Pottinger case. <\/span><\/p>\n

The legal director of ACLU Florida, Nancy Abudu<\/a>, says the city trying to dissolve the Pottinger agreement shows there are issues of criminalizing homelessness all over Florida, \u201cRather than using the criminal justice system to go after those with so little foothold in society, cities should focus resources on treating the underlying causes of homelessness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to the court\u2019s ruling, Waxman said, \u201cFor over thirty years, the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU of Florida has fought for the constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness in Miami. Homeless people historically have had their rights violated and are often not treated with compassion or dignity. We are still evaluating the possibility of an appeal. We hope the City will live up to the trust the court has placed in it to continue to uphold the rights of homeless persons in Miami.\u201d<\/span>
\nWaxman admits he doesn\u2019t have the answers to reduce or eliminate homelessness, but he doesn\u2019t believe that the current solutions are working and knows new approaches are needed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rupal Ramesh Shah The homeless are once again set up to struggle against the city of Miami and its police as the Pottinger Agreement was abolished in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,550,549],"tags":[13,31,106,121,128,145,200,204,215,251],"class_list":["post-6406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeless-voice-newspaper","category-local","category-news","tag-aclu","tag-ben-waxman","tag-emilio-gonzalez","tag-florida","tag-francis-suarez","tag-homeless","tag-miami","tag-miami-new-times","tag-nancy-abudu","tag-pottinger"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pottinger Agreement Abolished - Homeless Voice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.homelessvoice.org\/?p=6406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pottinger Agreement Abolished - 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