Homeless database bans Columbia for misuse

By Gina Smith

McClatchy Newspapers

The city of Columbia has been barred from using a national database after it misused it for about 2 weeks, pulling homeless people's names and Social Security numbers, then running criminal warrant checks and making arrests.

When the Trinity Housing Corp. - the agency that oversees the use of the database - learned the city was using the information to conduct criminal checks, it pulled the city's right to use it.

"It was a breach and misuse. It was an illegal and unethical use," said Scarlett Benjamin, Trinity's chief executive officer. "I think the city mistakenly misused the information, and they were very apologetic. Still, it was a misuse."

Since losing the right to use the system, the city has come up with a new sign-in form for homeless shelters. The homeless provide their names, Social Security numbers and other information when they check into the city's shelters.

The form includes a disclosure that the information will be shared with law enforcement so checks for criminal warrants can be made.

Since the shelters opened, 38 people have been arrested at the city's two homeless shelters.

Each night, the shelter at Park and Senate streets averages about 100 homeless people while the one at Taylor and Bull streets averages about 50, said Mike Lee, the city's director of indigent care who oversees the shelters.

Until recently, the police got information from Homeless Management Information System forms the homeless filled out when they checked into the shelters.

Information from the forms was also entered into a national database that homeless service providers and researchers can access to learn more about the homeless and their needs and compile statistics.

The form asks the homeless for private information. It is a federal violation for the information to be shared with law enforcement or anyone else.

"It's a great way to understand more about the homeless population and their needs and how we can more effectively help them," Benjamin said.

The city's deputy director for homeland security, Harold Reaves, said city police pulled only two pieces of information from the forms to conduct the criminal checks: the names and Social Security numbers.

Benjamin said sharing names and Social Security numbers with law enforcement is not allowed under federal guidelines. "It's still a misuse."

Of the 38 people arrested at the city's shelters, most face misdemeanor charges such as shoplifting, trespassing, park violations and drunkenness.

There was one charge of unlawful conduct toward a child and one of criminal domestic violence.

Even though the city's current method of conducting criminal checks is legal, it has become a sticking point for many area homeless providers.

They, along with National Coalition for the Homeless, will hold a news conference today, outlining why the criminal background checks are counterproductive.

"If there's someone out there with a warrant for a violent crime, then by all means, pick them up," said Julie Ann Avin, executive director of the Midlands Area Consortium on Homelessness.

"But picking up people on bench warrants for panhandling, loitering and other charges that are related to them being homeless, just continues the cycle."

Local reaction

Along the Grand Strand, Street Reach Ministries offers the only emergency overnight shelter to homeless people.

Libby Faulkner, director of the Street Reach crisis center in Myrtle Beach, said she would never knowingly harbor a fugitive but does not routinely share information with police.

If police come into the shelter with a warrant to arrest someone in connection with a "heinous crime" such as armed robbery or rape, Faulkner said, she is willing to help.

"If he's here, I'll tell them, but I'm not going to send the information to the police department and say, 'Hey, will you run a check on him?'"