INDICATORS

DAY LABORERS

STEVEN GREENHOUSE, NY TIMES - The first nationwide study on day laborers
has found that such workers are a nationwide phenomenon, with 117,600
people gathering at more than 500 hiring sites to look for work on a
typical day. The survey found that three-fourths of day laborers were
illegal immigrants and that more than half said employers had cheated
them on wages in the previous two months.

The study found that 49 percent of day laborers were employed by
homeowners and 43 percent by construction contractors. They were found
to be employed most frequently as construction laborers, landscapers,
painters, roofers and drywall installers.

The study, based on interviews with 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in
20 states and the District of Columbia, found that day laborers earned a
median of $10 an hour and $700 month. The study said that only a small
number earned more than $15,000 a year.

The professors who conducted the study said the most surprising finding
was the pervasiveness of wage violations and dangerous conditions that
day laborers faced. . . Forty-nine percent of those interviewed said
that in the previous two months an employer had not paid them for one or
more days' work. Forty-four percent said some employers did not give
them any breaks during the workday, while 28 percent said employers had
insulted them.

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HOMELESSNESS

NATIONAL HOMELESS - In 2005, 71 percent of the 24 cities surveyed by the
U.S. Conference of Mayors reported a 6 percent increase in requests for
emergency shelter.  Even while the requests for emergency shelter have
increased, cities do not have adequate shelter space to meet the need. 
In the 24 cities surveyed, an average of 14 percent of overall emergency
shelter requests went unmet, with 32 percent of shelter requests by
homeless families unmet. 

Over the course of the year, 3.5 million Americans experience
homelessness.  The number of people living on the streets threatens to
grow as thousands of people are now homeless as a result of Hurricane
Katrina. 

City ordinances frequently serve as a prominent tool to criminalize
homelessness.  Of the 224 cities surveyed for our report:

28% prohibit "camping" in particular public places in the city and 16%
had city-wide prohibitions on "camping." 27% prohibit sitting/lying in
certain public places. 39% prohibit loitering in particular public areas
and 16% prohibit loitering city-wide. 43% prohibit begging in particular
public places; 45% prohibit aggressive panhandling and 21% have
city-wide prohibitions on begging. The trend of criminalizing
homelessness appears to be growing.  Of the 67 cities surveyed in both
NCH and NLCHP's last joint report in 2002 and in this report:

There is a 12% increase laws prohibiting begging in certain public
places and an 18% increase in laws that prohibit aggressive panhandling.
There is a 14% increase in laws prohibiting sitting or lying in certain
public spaces. There is a 3% increase in laws prohibiting loitering,
loafing, or vagrancy laws. Another trend documented in the report is
increased city efforts to target homeless persons indirectly by placing
restrictions on providers serving food to poor and homeless persons in
public spaces.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/summary.html