Homeless people in US are ‘demonized’: Analyst

Crimes against homeless people in the United States are growing due to the “demonization” and “massive propaganda” against them, an American political commentator says.

Homeless Americans experienced a 23 percent surge in targeted attacks last year as compared to the number of assaults in 2012, according to preliminary figures released by the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH).

In 2013, there were a total of 108 reported attacks against the homeless. Nineteen of those assaults resulted in death.

The “hyper demonization of homeless people” by local governments is one factor for the surge in violent acts against them, said Don DeBar, an activist and radio host in New York.

Another reason for the growing attacks is the “massive propaganda campaign” to deny and prevent the discussion of homelessness in the US, DeBar told Press TV on Tuesday.

In an effort to eliminate homelessness, cities across the US have been implementing feeding and panhandling bans — inviting residents to see homeless people as criminals that deserve to be beaten.

“Cities continue to crack down on the homeless population by enforcing laws and creating a hostile attitude toward the homeless population,” says Michael Stoops, the executive director of NCH.

DeBar said reports about the falling homeless population in the US is a “fiction.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said the number of homeless people in the US dropped for the third straight year in 2012.