Nashville Moves Toward Decriminalizing Homelessness
Living on the streets brings extra interactions with law enforcement, but Tennessee’s capital is taking steps to reimagine justice. Paul Arndt sells magazines in a camp chair in his typical spot. He was arrested for obstruction of passageway in the following weeks. Paul Arndt knows all about people experiencing homelessness having encounters with the police. He used to live in the recently closed encampment under the Jefferson Street Bridge, a place where many nonprofits frequent, giving aid to the homeless living there. Every so often, police will force these encampments to clear out, citing trespassing laws. But his first real issue with getting a citation happened when he was selling The Contributor, the biweekly street newspaper published in Nashville, in front of the popular downtown tourist spot Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant. Arndt is 65 years old and legally blind. Unable to stand for long periods of time, he had brought a camp chair to sit on while he...