ESTABLISHING A CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS BILL OF RIGHTS FOR CALIFORNIA'S HOMELESS.

AuthorGreif, Gabriel

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. CURRENT AND ANTICIPATED EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HOMELESS POPULATIONS IN CALIFORNIA A. Increased Length and Severity of Heat Waves B. Reduced Access to Water C. Reduced Availability of Housing and Shelter, Overwhelmed Service Providers, and Spread of Disease II. EXISTING PROTECTIONS FROM CLIMATE BURDENS FOR PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS UNDER FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW A. Federal Protections and Rights B. State-Level Protections C. Local Protections and Procedures III. DEVELOPING A CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS "HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS" A. Extant and Proposed Homeless Bills of Rights B. Synthesis of a Climate-Conscious Homeless Bill of Rights for California 1. Targeted Outreach During EHEs and Access to Cooling Centers During EHEs 2. Access to Showers and Sources of Drinking Water 3. Comprehensive Medical Care 4. Equal Access to Disaster Relief Services CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION

In 2016, Arizona's Maricopa County recorded the fourth hottest summer on record, with afternoon highs in Phoenix averaging 106 degrees Fahrenheit. (1) That same summer, Maricopa County experienced a 25 percent increase in the rate of unsheltered homelessness. (2) The result was devastating for Arizona's unhoused populations. Between 2015 and 2016, the proportion of unhoused persons represented within Arizona's total heat-related deaths more than doubled, from 13 to 33 percent. (3) This has coincided with an increase in overall heat-related deaths; for example, 2016 saw two-and-a-half times more heat-related deaths than 2014. (4) Further, since 2016, rates of unsheltered homelessness in Arizona have climbed at an annual rate of close to 25 percent, with a corresponding increase in the number of heat-related deaths in the county. (5) Meanwhile, temperatures continue to rise--it is estimated that by 2060, Phoenix will have over 132 days above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. (6)

In 2017, shortly before Hurricane Irma made landfall in Miami, Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, spoke to the Associated Press about unhoused people who resisted the city's mandatory evacuation orders: "I am not going to sign suicide notes for people who are homeless in my community. I am just not going to do it." (7) Soon after, police, social workers, and psychiatrists offered a choice to the unhoused people who remained in the evacuation zone: come willingly to a storm shelter, or be held against their will for a mental health evaluation. (8) The legal justification for this choice was the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971 (Baker Act), which allows for the involuntary commitment of individuals that (1) possibly have a mental illness and (2) are a danger of becoming a harm to themselves or others. (9) The use of the Baker Act to confine people experiencing homelessness in the anticipation of Hurricane Irma has attracted controversy on a number of counts, especially because no housed people who chose to defy evacuation orders were involuntarily committed. (10) With the anticipated effects of climate change leading to a significant increase in the strength and impact of tropical storms, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, cities across the United States will soon face similar choices. (11)

The preceding situations provide examples of the endemic and serious shortcomings in how United States policy has evolved to address the intersection between climate change and homelessness. Homeless communities are among the most vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. (12) In addition, climate change will exacerbate the rates of homelessness within the United States by causing economic strain, climate migration, and the destruction of existing housing. (13) Given these realities, it is imperative to examine the patchwork of protections and rights afforded to people experiencing homelessness at the state, local, and federal level. Like the invocation of the Baker Act to involuntarily commit people experiencing homelessness in advance of Hurricane Irma, decisionmakers often create these policies on an ad hoc basis without the benefit of a unified or cohesive mandate. This paper critically examines these different protections and ultimately creates a recommendation for a climate-conscious Homeless Bill of Rights in California: a comprehensive, state-level guarantee of rights to people experiencing homelessness, with explicit attention paid to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on homeless populations.

Part I of this paper explores the aspects of climate change that pose the greatest danger to unhoused populations. Part II of this paper examines how state, federal, and local laws ameliorate or exacerbate these dangers. Finally, Part III of this paper synthesizes a policy recommendation for a climate-conscious homeless bill of rights based on existing and proposed homeless bills of rights, and successful state and local policies.

  1. CURRENT AND ANTICIPATED EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HOMELESS POPULATIONS IN CALIFORNIA

    The effects of climate change are likely to create significant burdens for people experiencing homelessness in California. This Part discusses several areas where the burdens of homelessness and climate change intersect. In particular, it focuses on: (1) how the increased length and severity of heat waves will create unique health risks for people experiencing homelessness; (2) how climate change-related drought will exacerbate existing water scarcity for people experiencing homelessness; and (3) how climate change will worsen California's housing shortage, leading to strained social services and disease due to overcrowding within shelters and encampments. These dangers are especially relevant in California, given the dangerous levels of heat and drought and the severity of California's housing shortage. (14)

    1. Increased Length and Severity of Heat Waves

      Since the 1960s, cities have experienced an increased frequency of extreme heat events (EHEs). (15) According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average U.S. city has triple the number of heat waves per year, and the average heat wave season (16) is 47 days longer than in the mid-1960s. (17) The average global temperature has gone up as well--by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s. (18) This warming effect has not been distributed evenly; major Californian cities like Los Angeles and San Diego have warmed by 5 degrees. (19) San Francisco and Sacramento have each seen a temperature increase of over 2 degrees. (20) This temperature increase likely comes from a combination of global warming and the urban heat island effect. The urban heat island effect refers to the phenomenon of urban areas retaining more heat than their surroundings due to heat-retaining asphalt and concrete, lack of vegetation, and the heat-generating activities related to human activity. (21) In many cities, marginalized communities, shelters, and major homeless encampments tend to be concentrated in urban industrial zones, where the urban heat island effect is at its strongest. (22)

      The effects of global warming, exacerbated by the urban heat island effect, stand to increase city temperatures by a significant amount by mid-century. Studies suggest that throughout the United States, the number of days exceeding an apparent temperature (23) of 100 degrees Fahrenheit will double. (24)

      Even more concerning is the expected increase in the frequency and intensity of heat waves. There is evidence that the intensity and frequency of heat waves stands to outpace the escalation in ambient temperatures due to a greater volatility in weather patterns and humidity during periods of extreme heat. (25) The number of days above 95 degrees Fahrenheit through much of the California coastline is expected to triple by the middle of the century. Further, by the year 2100, the number of days above 100 degrees Fahrenheit is likely to increase between four- and eight-fold in Southern California. (26) While EHEs already cause more deaths, on average, than any other natural disaster, this future increase in temperature stands to significantly increase the danger of EHEs. (27)

      It is intuitive that exceptionally strong heat waves are responsible for most heat-related illness and death. There are several temperature thresholds that trigger different heat-related illnesses, with heat stroke setting in when the body temperature reaches 106 degrees Fahrenheit. (28) For this reason, while it is important to note the increase in average ambient temperature, special attention must be paid to periods of particularly hot weather.

      The 2006 North American Heat Wave, which hit California in July, is a cautionary tale. This EHE, which has "faded quickly from public consciousness," (29) reached temperatures of 119 degrees in parts of Los Angeles and killed between 140 and 466 people. (30) Under half of the deaths occurred in people over the age of 70, and many of the deaths occurred outdoors. (31) Unsurprisingly, the most aggravating risk factors of heat-related illness intersected with traits that are overrepresented in homeless communities. Even controlling for other aggravating factors, mental illness, physical infirmity, and lack of access to air conditioning all played heavily into morbidity and mortality rates. (32) For this reason, unhoused people account for a disproportionately large share of heat-related death and injury.

    2. Reduced Access to Water

      Another problem that climate change will worsen is California's water shortage. California's water reserves will become increasingly strained through five interrelated processes: warmer temperatures, less snowpack, shorter wet seasons, increasingly volatile precipitation, and sea-level rise. (33) As temperatures increase, water evaporation increases. Much of this evaporated water is carried to the Pacific Ocean, where it is released as precipitation into the sea, thus reducing water availability. Additionally, higher temperatures...

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