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Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
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Phone: (617) 287 5550
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| Feds Want to Track the Homeless |
Author(s):
Julia Scheeres
Source(s):
Wired News
Date: August 21, 2003
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A mandate which will force local agencies that receive federal funds to register and track
homeless people has been called too invasive by privacy and community activists.
In an attempt to grasp the scope of the United States' homeless problem, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development is requiring local government and nonprofit organizations
receiving grants for homeless programs to keep detailed files on their clientele. Data to be
tracked ranges from Social Security numbers to HIV statuses to mental health histories.
Local agencies must have the so-called Homeless Management Information Systems, or
HMIS, in
place by 2004 or risk losing federal funds.
Over the last 15 years, HUD has spent more
than $11 billion on homeless assistance, yet the
department knows little about the people it helps, including how many there are.
Estimates of the number of homeless Americans range from 600,000 to 3.5 million, according to
the
National Coalition for the Homeless.
But the exact figure is hard to calculate given the very nature of homelessness. For some people,
homelessness is a transitory situation, precipitated by job loss or separation from a violent
partner. For others -- especially those struggling with drug addiction or mental illness -- lack
of shelter is a chronic problem.
HUD says the mandatory tracking program will help establish an accurate count of the nation's
homeless, streamline services and reduce fraud.
Opponents say the HMIS databases will put homeless people's privacy at risk and could be misused
by local officials to harass the homeless for political reasons.
Incidents of official
harassment of the homeless are well-documented, as are accounts of police
abuse of sensitive
databases.
In preparation for the 1996 Olympics, for example, Atlanta passed a flurry of ordinances to
crack down on homelessness, including a law making it illegal to lie down in a public park or
walk through a parking lot if your car wasn't located there. The city gave street people one-way
bus tickets out of town and police arrested 9,000 people for breaking loitering and begging laws
in the months before the games, according to local homeless
advocates.
"Using HMIS, Atlanta officials could have tracked exactly where the homeless were staying and
receiving services," said Chris Hoofnagle, deputy counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information
Center.
In an
analysis
of the proposed tracking systems, EPIC urges HUD to extrapolate information from
census-like "snapshots" of the homeless population in different areas rather than collecting
individuals' personal data.
Donna Friedman, director of the
Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts,
which is assisting many local communities to implement HMIS systems, said that a concerted
effort is being made to invest in advanced technology to improve services for the homeless.
"HMIS is being implemented across the country by partnerships of local governments, service
providers, advocates, and others who are committed to the best interests of homeless men, women
and children," she said. "While any type of data collection poses risks, those risks can be
minimized given proper security measures. HUD has included many strong security measures in
its guidelines, and we too are responding to HUD to suggest ways to make those measures even
stronger.
HUD officials could be reached for comment.
HUD published a notice outlining the proposed HMIS
guidelines in the Federal Register in July.
"(Homeless assistance) programs have been in existence for some 15 years and there has never
been an overall review or comprehensive analysis on the extent of homelessness or how to address
it," the notice states.
"If information about clients is shared across providers, these systems can be used to reduce
the number of times that clients are required to complete intake forms and assessments," it
says. "They also allow providers to coordinate and track activities and services more effectively
within a locality, streamline the referral process, and improve case management for homeless
clients."
The notice said that the government has no plans to develop a national system to register and
track the homeless.
Nevertheless, homeless advocates said the money that local agencies will need to invest in
HMIS technology would be better spent elsewhere.
"What are they trying to figure out, whether someone has a shelter bed on the east side and
the west side of town?" asked Chance Martin, editor of the Street Sheet, a newspaper published
by the
Coalition on Homelessness of San Francisco. "I really don't think there are that many
people double dipping for shelter beds. There aren't enough to go around in the first place."
Street Sheet ran an
editorial criticizing HUD's proposal.
Martin said the tracking system would discourage illegal immigrants, those suffering from
paranoia and homeless people with past criminal records from seeking assistance.
The HMIS databases also would put the safety of women fleeing abusive relationships at risk,
said Cindy Southworth, director of technology for the
National Network to End Domestic Violence.
According to a Ford Foundation study,
50 percent of homeless women are on the street to escape
violent partners.
"The proposed HMIS standards would build large citywide and statewide databases storing the
exact location of homeless persons using food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and
transitional housing programs -- a huge safety risk for victims of domestic violence using
these services," said Southworth.
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