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Community Corner

NUISANCE ORDINANCES JEOPARDIZE SAFETY OF ABUSED WOMEN

Editorial

For Immediate Release – 11/11/13

 

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Contact: Maria Macaluso, Exec. Director                Contact: Beth Sturman,  Exec. Director                      

                  Women’s Center of Montgo. County                       Laurel House

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Telephone: 215-635-7340                                       Telephone: 610-277-1860, x113

Email: mmacaluso@womenscentermc.org                        Email: bsturman@laurel-house.org

 

NUISANCE ORDINANCES JEOPARDIZE SAFETY OF ABUSED WOMEN

Calling Police Results in Evictions, Putting Families At Further Risk

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, a time when friends and families gather around hearth and table to celebrate their many blessings.

 

There is something, however, in 23 Pennsylvania communities – including Norristown, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and York – that none of us should be thankful for: so-called “nuisance’’ ordinances that threaten to evict domestic violence victims from their homes if they call the cops multiple times to report an abusive partner.

 

Their terms may vary slightly from town to town, but the intent of these ordinances is consistent: They require landlords to evict tenants when police have been called to the tenant’s home a certain number of times over a short period, usually three times over a few months.   Landlords who don’t evict are faced with paying fines or losing their rental license.

 

Advocates for victims of domestic violence across Pennsylvania are heartened that a federal judge has dismissed the Borough of Norristown’s attempt to block a federal lawsuit challenging its nuisance ordinance. However, there is deep concern that if the Norristown law is upheld at trial it could have a chilling effect on victims of domestic violence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and across our nation.  There are at least 59 U.S. communities that have nuisance ordinances similar to Norristown’s.

 

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, of which the Women’s Center of Montgomery County and Laurel House are both members, has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the American Civil Liberties Union’s federal lawsuit against Norristown. We oppose the “nuisance” ordinance because we know its outcome will have far-reaching consequences to victims of domestic violence both here in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. These statutes not only are unconstitutional, they punish the victims of domestic violence with eviction for seeking safety.

 

Nobody should ever have to choose between help and homelessness or between help and being killed.  But that’s precisely the dilemma Lakisha Briggs, 33, of Norristown, faced. Borough officials sent letters to Briggs’ landlord informing him that he needed to evict Ms. Briggs for violating Norristown’s nuisance ordinance by placing too many calls to police.

 

Despite Briggs’ attempts to keep her ex-boyfriend away, he kept returning to her home. After he was released from jail, where he had been held because of one of the earlier calls to police, he went to Briggs’ home and threatened her with the words “you are going to be with me, or you are going to be with no one.” She asked him to leave, but he refused. Unable to remove him on her own, and afraid to call police because of the borough’s eviction threat, she let him stay. A few weeks later, he brutally attacked Briggs, stabbing her in the neck with a shard of glass from an ashtray that shattered after he smashed it against her skull.

 

As blood pulsed from the 4-inch puncture wound in her neck, Briggs made the conscious decision not to call the police for a fourth time and risk being evicted from her home. She passed out on the floor and was only saved when a neighbor called for assistance that led to her being life-flighted to a hospital.

 

A Norristown municipal administrator got wind of the incident and concluded that Briggs had violated the probationary period imposed by the borough after having placed three calls to police in April and May.

 

The ACLU and the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton filed a lawsuit against Norristown on Briggs’ behalf. Their complaint claims that the borough’s ordinance violates a well-established First Amendment right to petition the government, namely the police for emergency assistance. They also claim the ordinance violates the federal Fair Housing Act and the Violence Against Women Act, which forbids acts or threats of domestic violence from being used to terminate Section 8 housing rights.

 

Studies demonstrate that domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness in Pennsylvania and across the United States.[1] One study that examined homelessness in regions across the nation, including the Philadelphia region, revealed that as many as 57 percent of homeless women reported domestic violence to be the immediate cause of their homelessness.[2] The lack of affordable housing compounds this problem. According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, the demand for affordable housing exceeds supply by about 4.5 million people. On top of that, it estimates that the average wait for Section 8 vouchers to help with rent payments is 35 months.

 

The very real threat of homelessness explains why Briggs chose not to call the cops even when her life was threatened. And it illustrates why these so-called nuisance ordinances will have such a chilling effect if they are permitted to stand.

 

In July, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, asking them to work together to educate local communities about the housing protections available to domestic violence victims under the Violence Against Women Act.

 

We applaud Sen. Casey’s effort, and we call on all Pennsylvanians to get involved and help outlaw these deleterious municipal ordinances. We also commend Rep. Todd Stephens (R-Montgomery) for introducing legislation to eliminate nuisance ordinances that would penalize victims of crime for seeking help from police or emergency services.

 

In this specific situation, Briggs was fortunate to have a neighbor call for help, enabling her to survive  a life threatening assault.  According to the NIJ Journal of November 2003, “Every year in the United States, 1,000 to 1,600 women die at the hands of their male partners, often after a long, escalating pattern of battering.”  Brigg’s situation matches this profile of a long, escalating pattern of battering.   The active intervention of her neighbor is to be commended.

 

Yes, November is truly a time to give thanks and to celebrate the ideal of safe, healthy homes in our community for all.   It is also a perfect time to call your state legislator (go to www.legis.state.pa.us if not sure about whom to contact) to express support for legislation that ensures nuisance ordinances cannot be used to evict domestic violence survivors from their homes.

 

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[1] Nat’l Law Ctr. on Homelessness & Poverty, Lost Housing, Lost Safety: Survivors of Domestic Violence Experience Housing Denials and Evictions Across the Country, Executive Summary (Feb. 2007).

[2] Id.

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