Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project protests Smiley Administration's abuse of unsheltered persons

"We have a Homeless Bill of Rights in Rhode Island. It is not a list of polite suggestions, it is the law of the State of Rhode Island. But the police are ignoring it."

Mary Pendergast

Early Tuesday morning, a dozen people stood outside the home of Providence Mayor Brett Smiley at the corner of Hope Street and Waterman Avenue to protest the Administration’s continued disregard for the rights of people experiencing homelessness. As people passed by, honking their horns in support, the entirely peaceful protest spoke with reporters, telling stories of casual police brutality against people whose only crime is poverty.

“We’re here across the street from Mayor Brett Smiley’s house,” said Eric Hirsch, Director of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP). “We haven’t gone on his property. We respect his private property rights, but his police officers are not doing the same. There are over 500 people who are homeless in the City of Providence, many of whom are living unsheltered. People worry about the cold and say, “We have to worry about homeless people when it’s really cold,” but actually, we have to worry about them when it’s really hot as well. Especially if you’re in a tent, which can raise the temperature 20 or 30 degrees, it’s life-threatening, just like the cold. Instead of housing people by putting them in permanent housing, instead of having adequate numbers of shelter beds, the city harasses people and tries to move them from where they are. Often, from Kennedy Plaza.”

Director Hirsch continued:

“Many people don’t realize that even in a shelter, you often cannot stay there during the day. Where are people supposed to go? Mayor Smiley doesn’t want them in his city. He wants the wealthy people living on Westminster Street in lofts, in houses like his house here, which is worth $2 million, not to look at people on the street, so the police do illegal searches. They harass people.

“One of our members was put in jail for 10 days because they found a pocket knife on him after an illegal search. They continue to raid homeless encampments, which scatters people to the winds, which means that our outreach people can’t find them. We’ve been saying for a while: Mayor Smiley, instruct your police officers to obey the Homeless Bill of Rights. Treat them like any other resident of the city. Train your police officers on the Homeless Bill of Rights and tell them to honor it. They haven’t been doing that. Set up permanent housing, set up shelters instead of harassing people, and try to move them out of the city.

“If you’re interested in this issue and you agree with us about the actions of the Providence Police, call Mayor Smiley [Phone: 401.421.2489] and say, ‘Order your police officers to obey the homeless Bill of Rights. It’s the law.’”

“I will read to you the eviction notice that we just delivered to Mayor Smiley,” said Peter Nightingale, a member of RIHAP and the Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign. “We stuck it in the door. We respect his property. We didn’t even try to wake him up. He’ll find the notice.”

“Let me read the eviction notice to you,” continued Peter Nightingale.

"This is from the People’s Court of Rhode Island, from the Office of Public Judgment and Restorative Justice, authorized under the Natural Rights Doctrine and Moral Law. In re The People versus Mayor Brett Smiley. Charge: Systemati,c Willful violation of the Homeless Bill of Rights.

“Mayor Beard Smiley has failed to enforce the statutory protections owed to unhoused individuals and has allowed continued police harassment, displacement, and denial of services in violation of the law.

“Verdict: Guilty sentence. The private residence of Mayor Brett Smiley, located at 193 Hope Street in Providence, Rhode Island, is hereby declared seized by the people and shall be converted to supportive housing for the unhoused. This declaration upholds the letter and the spirit of the Homeless Bill of Rights. It is justified under the principle of necessity. Authority is asserted under the public interest provisions of the Rhode Island law.

“It’s the people’s mandate, as assigned by the People’s Court of Rhode Island, and the motto is Power to the People. No housing, no peace.”

“We are standing here today, not out of anger, but deep disappointment,” said John Chiellini, caseworker at Better Life Rhode Island and RIHAP member. “We are here because the soul of our city is at stake. We are not here to talk about a crisis of housing and a crisis of humanity that is unfolding in our streets. This isn’t just about rent being too high, though it is punishingly high. This is about a tale of two Providences. One is the Providence of ribbon cutting and press releases. The other is the Providence, where our neighbors are crushed by rent hikes they cannot afford. That puts them in tents while our city leaders tell us that basic protections, like rent control, are off the table.”

John Chiellini continued:

“But today, we speak about something that is even more fundamental. It is about the law itself. We have a Homeless Bill of Rights in Rhode Island. It is not a list of polite suggestions. It is the law of the State of Rhode Island, a law that guarantees our unhoused neighbors the same rights as any other citizen. That right is to be secure in their persons and their property. It specifically states, and I quote, ‘that every person has the right and reasonable expectations of privacy in his or her personal property to the same extent as personal property in a permanent residence.’

“But the police under this administration’s command are treating landmark law like it’s invisible. They are ignoring it.

“We hear the stories. We see it with our own eyes. Cops searching people with few belongings without a warrant or cause. We see them going through their tents, confiscating personal property, and treating our neighbors like criminals for the simple fact of existing.

“Let me be blunt: This is illegal. It is a direct violation of the Homeless Bill of Rights and a violation of basic civil rights that are supposed to protect every single one of us, not just the wealthy. This isn’t a policy disagreement. It’s a systemic violation of the law happening on the streets of our capital city.”

RIHAP issued the following statement:

Mayor Brett Smiley has failed to enforce the statutory protections owed to unhoused individuals. He has allowed continued police harassment, displacement, and denial of services in violation of R.I. Gen. Law §34-37.1-3, the Homeless Bill of Rights, which declares that the unhoused:

• Have the right to use and move freely in public spaces (sidewalks, public parks, public transportation, public buildings) in the same manner as any other person and without discrimination…

• Have the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy of personal property to the same extent as personal property in a permanent residence.

It is now summer, when there is less concern about the welfare of those living unsheltered in our state. And yet, an estimated 493 people live outside, dealing with unprecedented heat waves, often in tents. More people die of heat-related illnesses than from the cold every year. But, despite our efforts to promote permanent housing over the long term and shelter in the short term, police harassment and raids of tent encampments remain at the core of our policy approach to the unsheltered crisis in Providence.

Mayor Smiley’s quality of life initiative has its historical roots in NYC’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his police commissioner William Bratton’s approach to people experiencing homelessness. They argued that minor quality of life crimes, such as panhandling and window washing by squeegee men, promoted serious crime due to the broken windows effect. They ticketed and arrested people experiencing homelessness in large numbers in the 90s and 2000s. The approach has been discredited by recent criminal justice research, but remains a dominant policy in cities all over the country, including Providence.

RIHAP has met with Mayor Smiley, Chief Oscar Perez, and high-ranking officers in Providence to protest illegal harassment and searches, and yet these practices continue unabated. Officers agree that they often do not have evidence of a crime that rises to the level of probable cause that would allow for an arrest or a full search. They depend on the legal doctrine of reasonable suspicion. However, reasonable suspicion is supposed to be based on facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that criminal actions are occurring or will soon occur. It allows for only brief investigative stops and questioning and does not allow for a full search or arrest. The Providence police act as though anyone unhoused is likely to be committing crimes and can be legally harassed and have their person and property searched at any time.

One of our members describes how one police officer, Alexander Santos, badge number 502, treated him recently: “Yes, I was harassed and searched illegally by a cop, Badge #502. I got off the bus and was down there for 10 minutes, talking in the park. I complied, hands up, because I’m on probation. He said he was going to take me to PD [Providence Public Safety Complex] for a strip search. This is the fifth time I’ve been threatened with a strip search. I had a pocketknife for work to cut the carpets he had found for Stanley Steamers. He took me to the station, I thought for a strip search, but instead they put me in a cell for 10 days for the knife, claiming it was a probation violation.”

According to the department’s records, Officer Santos has arrested 80 people in the last 60 days, 84% of whom were homeless.

In mid-May, Providence police officers raided an encampment on state land in a tunnel on Cadillac Drive. Although Chief Perez and Mayor Smiley claimed they would provide at least 30 days’ notice before raiding encampments on state or city land, they did not provide even 48 hours’ notice. There was no notice to vacate, and officers damaged several tents, even pulling one down. The police parked a dumpster at the encampment in preparation for removing the residents’ possessions.

Therefore, the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and the Mathewson Church Housing Justice Committee call for the symbolic seizure of the mayor’s home at 193 Hope Street in Providence to provide supportive housing for those experiencing unsheltered homelessness. We also demand that Mayor Smiley:

1. Order Providence Police officers to stop the harassment of those experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the city.

2. Provide immediate and continuing in-depth training on the Homeless Bill of Rights to all officers in the Providence Police Department.

3. Suspend or terminate those officers who have harassed unsheltered individuals in the past or who do so in the future.

4. Stop all police raids on homeless encampments until the city offers additional rapidly deployable shelters or housing alternatives acceptable to residents of those encampments.