INTRODUCTION

In 2007, homeless individuals in America faced another year of brutality that ranged from assault to killings. Sadly, these gruesome accounts are just a few of many that demonstrate the hate/violence faced by people experiencing homelessness each year. The following report documents 160 violent acts that occurred in 2007, collected from newspapers and reports across the country.

Even as homeless people are being violently targeted, most of our communities do not have adequate affordable housing or shelter space to meet the need, leaving many homeless persons particularly vulnerable to these attacks.  In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 44% of our homeless population is unsheltered. Without proper action to deal with the crisis of homelessness as a whole, our homeless neighbors will continue to be vulnerable to brutal attacks.

While some cities and states have taken positive steps to address hate crime and violence against homeless persons, many cities around the country continue to dehumanize homeless persons by enacting and enforcing laws that criminalize their homeless status.  Many laws, such as those that restrict sleeping, sitting, storing property, and asking for money in public, send a message to society that homeless people are not human, do not deserve respect, and that attacks against them will not be taken seriously.

The narratives of this report bring to light the discrimination and senseless violence faced daily by so many of our country’s homeless citizens. Here are just a few illustrative cases:

February 8: Corpus Christi, Texas.  Austin Bires, 15, and Cody Lavender, 17, used a stolen video camera to record themselves beating and robbing a homeless man.  The woman whose camera was stolen found the tape still in the camera and turned it in to the police.

According to police, one teen narrates what they are about to do before they attack.  Commander David Torres, quoted in a CNN report, said “After the narration, two of the kids take off running, full speed, and one of them just drop-kicks the homeless man with both feet on the guy’s back.” 

Police say the teens came up behind the victim and kicked him and slammed his head onto the pavement.  Torres describes, “They actually grab him and flip him around to film his injuries”... “And I’m telling you, the way they filmed it – the closeness – they put it together where you can tell it was planned out.”

July 7: Leesburg, Florida. A group of six to eight teenage boys went into an abandoned home and used pieces of concrete, bricks, pipes, bats, and knives, to beat two homeless men nearly to death.  Robert “Glenn” Williams, 53, and David Lambert, 42, were so badly injured from the beating they were airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.  Williams, covered in blood, crawled to the nearby road and got the attention of a police officer.  Lambert had a collapsed lung as a result of a stabbing and needed over 100 staples to seal up the wounds to his head.  Williams was so badly beaten on his face and head that he had difficulty talking for days following the attack.

October 5: New York City, New York. Felix Najero, a 49 year-old homeless man, was set on fire outside of Bethany Christian Church where he rested for the night. The fire burned seventy-five percent of Najero’s body, spreading across his face, chest, and stomach. Najero died four days later in New York-Presbyterian /Weill Cornell Medical Center. Police have arrested Israel Torres, a 29 year-old man from the Bronx, for the attack, charging him with attempted murder. Torres, a former prisoner, reportedly taunted Najero prior to the attack. Torres may be recharged with a more serious offence now that Najero is dead.

Even while these horrific attacks are being perpetrated against homeless people around the country, some cities and states have taken actions to address this growing trend.  This report provides information about the various incidents around the country, positive steps being taken to address the issues, and recommendations for ways advocates, providers, policymakers, and members of the public can help put a stop to the growing violence against our homeless neighbors.