博伊西的无家可归斗争是如何波及整个西海岸的

博伊西的无家可归斗争是如何波及整个西海岸的

It's billed as one of the most livable places in the country with its good schools, leafy streets and safe neighborhoods. That's what makes Boise, Idaho, an odd backdrop for a heated legal fight around homelessness that is reverberating across the western United States and may soon be taken up by the Supreme Court.

它被宣传为全国最适宜居住的地方之一，拥有良好的学校、绿树成荫的街道和安全的社区。这使得爱达荷州的博伊西成为一场围绕无家可归者展开的激烈法律斗争的奇怪背景，这场斗争正在美国西部回响，可能很快就会被最高法院受理。

It goes back nearly a decade to when seven homeless people sued Boise for repeatedly ticketing them for sleeping outside. Last year the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. The decision said it was "cruel and unusual punishment" to enforce rules that stop homeless people from camping in public places when they have no place else to go.

这要追溯到近10年前，当时7名无家可归的人起诉博伊西，因为他们在外面睡觉而不断给他们开罚单。去年，第九巡回上诉法院做出了对他们有利的裁决。该决定称，强制执行禁止无家可归者在没有其他地方可去的情况下在公共场所露营的规定是“残忍和不同寻常的惩罚”。

That means in states across the ninth circuit — including Washington, Oregon and California — cities and counties can no longer enforce similar statutes if they don't have enough shelter beds for homeless people sleeping outside.

这意味着在第九巡回州——包括华盛顿、俄勒冈和加利福尼亚——如果没有足够的避难所床位供无家可归者露宿，城市和县将不能执行类似的法令。

Pam Hawkes was one of the original plaintiffs in the case. She now lives in Spokane, Wash., where she's been in and out of homelessness and only recently found stable housing. Seven years ago, she and her then-partner had nowhere to live in Boise and many nights they had no other choice but to pitch a tent in a wooded area along the river.

帕姆·霍克斯是本案的原原告之一。她现在住在华盛顿州的斯波坎。她在美国无家可归，最近才找到稳定的住所。七年前，她和当时的伴侣在博伊西没有地方住，很多个晚上，他们别无选择，只能在河边的树林里搭起帐篷。

"I was like, I just need somewhere to lay my head overnight, and it's not like we left camp up," she said. "We always packed up and we always kept it clean."

她说:“我当时想，我只是想找个地方过夜，但我们又没有离开营地。”“我们总是收拾东西，总是保持干净。”

Even though she says she tried to keep herself hidden, it didn't stop police from issuing her more than a dozen tickets. Like most people living on the streets, Hawkes didn't have steady work and couldn't pay the fines. So she ended up in jail.

尽管她说她试图隐藏自己，但这并没有阻止警察给她开十多张罚单。和大多数流落街头的人一样，霍克斯没有稳定的工作，也交不起罚款。结果她进了监狱。

"I'd never been in jail a whole day and night before," she said. "It was terrifying." Boise has hired a high-powered Los Angeles-based law firm to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. Dozens of other municipalities and organizations ranging from the downtown LA YMCA to a group of California counties have filed amicus briefs in support of the review.

“我从来没有在监狱里呆过一整天，”她说。“这是可怕的。”博伊西聘请了一家总部位于洛杉矶的高级律师事务所，向最高法院提起上诉。从市中心的基督教青年会到加州的一些县，其他几十个市和组织已经提交了法庭之友的简报，支持这项审查。

Meanwhile the fight over how to deal with the ever-growing homelessness crisis — most acutely visible in places such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle — is dividing cities, neighborhoods and political parties.

与此同时，如何应对日益严重的无家可归危机的斗争——在洛杉矶、旧金山和西雅图等地最为明显——正在使城市、社区和政党产生分歧。

It was a deciding factor in the unusually heated Boise mayoral race between two Democrats this past fall. Like many western cities in particular, Boise is in the midst of an extraordinary affordable housing shortage. It's also one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, a source of tension in some corners.

这是去年秋天两位民主党人在博伊西市长竞选中异常激烈的决定性因素。与许多西方城市一样，博伊西也面临着严重的经济适用房短缺。它也是美国发展最快的城市之一，也是一些地区紧张局势的根源。

The message that prevailed was Lauren McLean's, the president of the city council. "The part that is missed all too often is the importance of prevention, if we want to prevent camps, we have to prevent homelessness," she said during a forum at at a local homeless shelter. "We've got to address the affordability crisis in the community."

广为传之的信息是市议会总统劳伦麦克莱恩的。她在当地一个无家可归者收容所的论坛上说:“我们常常忽略了预防的重要性，如果我们想要阻止难民营，我们就必须防止无家可归。”“我们必须解决社区的负担能力危机。”

In a divisive run-off earlier this month, McLean handily beat the city's longest ever serving mayor, Dave Bieter. He took heat for the city's spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars to appeal a case, money that some argued should be going to housing and more support services for the homeless.

在本月早些时候的决胜选举中，麦克莱恩轻松击败了史上任期最长的市长戴夫·比特。他对纽约市花费数十万美元上诉的行为感到愤怒，一些人认为这笔钱应该用于住房和为无家可归者提供更多的支持服务。

In cities like those, and Los Angeles, the homelessness crisis is far more eye-opening than in Boise. Homeless encampments are sprouting up in underpasses, along streets and on scores of sidewalks and inside parks.

在这些城市和洛杉矶，无家可归的危机比博伊西更让人大开眼界。无家可归者的营地在地下通道、街道、人行道和公园内如雨后春笋般出现。