Larry Geller over at Disappeared News flags an interesting report this morning.

Produced by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the report is titled “Constructive Alternatives to the Criminalization of Homelessness.”

Here’s how the executive summary starts:

In recent years, the United States has seen the proliferation of local measures to criminalize “acts of living” laws that prohibit sleeping, eating, sitting, or panhandling in public spaces. City, town, and county officials are turning to criminalization measures in an effort to broadcast a zero-tolerance approach to street homelessness and to temporarily reduce the visibility of homelessness in their communities.

The report goes on to say there are better ways to address homelessness.

Geller draws a line from the “acts of living” laws criticized in the report to Honolulu’s new sidewalk possessions ban, passed last year to clear personal belongings from public spaces.

The Honolulu City Council and Mayor Peter Carlisle denied they were targeting homeless people and have taken to calling the new law the “stored property ordinance.” But despite some early enforcement against Mililani basketball hoops, the law has been used mainly against the city’s homeless population and Occupy Honolulu protesters.

There is a key difference between Honolulu’s ordinance and “criminalization” of homelessness, since folks here are allowed to sit, sleep and eat on the sidewalks indefinitely — they just can’t keep their tents there.

Click over to read the full report and come back to share your thoughts on Honolulu’s sidewalk possessions ban.

(Photo by Nick Castele/Civil Beat)