Homelessness and the Law

Book excerpt: Homeless people want to be treated with dignity and respect: by the law, by the community, by government systems and by individuals. The reality is that they instead face constant discrimination, rejection and exclusion. The law perpetuates this sense of exclusion. Terms such as public nuisance, offensive, anti-social, causing anxiety, causing an obstruction, move-on are all found in criminal laws that the homeless are disproportionately prosecuted under. This book explores the many ways in which laws in Australia, at federal, State and Territory level, operate to cause or perpetuate homelessness, as well as how the law might be used to address the causes and consequences of homelessness. Dr Tamara Walsh examines legal conceptions of home and homelessness and legal responses to them; law and order approaches to homelessness including offences and defences; social welfare law; impairment, disability and capacity in relation to decision making; discrimination and access to justice, and homelessness and human rights.