By justina colmena ~biz in mental — 24 Oct 2025

What is the exact legal meaning of "living on the streets?"

Lawful residency with any actual street address as well as homelessness is apparently being criminalized.

Sec. 2. Restoring Civil Commitment. (a) The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall take appropriate action to: ¶(i) seek, in appropriate cases, the reversal of Federal or State judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees that impede the United States’ policy of encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves in appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time; and ¶(ii) provide assistance to State and local governments, through technical guidance, grants, or other legally available means, for the identification, adoption, and implementation of maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and “step-down” treatment standards that allow for the appropriate commitment and treatment of individuals with mental illness who pose a danger to others or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves.

What exactly is the legal meaning of living on the streets? We're not exactly hanging out and shooting hoops or playing a game of basketball with a group of friends on the streets, although we certainly could be, and there wouldn't be a whole lot wrong with that. Food is everywhere, plenty of is being served, by friends, neighbors, churches and charitable institutions, so nobody is exactly starving on the streets.

No. We're in a court of law every day fighting over every little technicality of our ability to care for ourselves or at the airport fighting with the TSA guards over every pack of razors, toothbrush, bar of soap, can of deodorant or bottle of shampoo. We're required to bear the burden of proving, over and over again, in a court of law, by a preponderance of the evidence, our ability to "take care of ourselves," and the cops just seized our dental floss on yet another kitty-cat-with-a-ball-of-string warrant.

Some of us own property on the streets, some of us are legally employed on the streets, and some of us drive or walk or bike to and from work and school and church on the streets.

Many of us live in houses with actual street addresses on the streets. Most of us do need some street or road access to leave our homes and return at times, and this would be difficult if we didn't have streets or didn't live or reside "on" them without spending any more money to fix potholes than that.

Where do you go when you back your car out of the garage if you don't live on the streets? Where do you pick up your mail if your mailbox isn't on the streets? Or how do you get to the post office without trespassing on other people's property?

Once again, people with actual homes or residences or street addresses are burdened with proving in a court of law, to a preponderance of the evidence, that they are not users of marijuana in order to purchase a firearm. And this in spite of hundreds of "legal" marijuana stores opening up all around us on the streets. None of the owners of the said "legal" marijuana establishments are having any particular trouble with law purchasing or possessing firearms.

So federal agents can't get gun permits in L.A. But the feds are not letting civilians or military veterans carry in any case, even if the LAPD would.