05:29 PM CST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006

By Janice Williamson / 11 News

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The city that opened its heart to tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees is now being called heartless when it comes to the homeless.

KHOU

Experts believe Katrina added hundreds more homeless people to Houston's population.

A report by the National Coalition for the Homeless ranks Houston as the seventh meanest city in the country when it comes to the way it treats its homeless.

The report focuses on specific city measures from 2005 that have targeted homeless persons, such as laws that make it illegal to sleep, eat, or sit in public spaces. 

Life on the streets is where an estimated 14,000 people in Houston claim a patch of concrete as home.

"Some people feel safer out here on the streets than in a house, but not all of us. Some of us want a roof over their heads," said Anthony Scott.

When we talked with Anthony Scott last year he was hopeful. The City of Houston was working with various downtown groups to provide emergency housing for the homeless.

But homeless advocates in Houston say it's all window dressing.

"Civility ordinances, pahhandling ordinances to me is like taking a shotgun and shooting at a fly," said Anthony Love with the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County.

KHOU-TV

Houston isn't very kind to its homeless, according to the report.

Love tells us it's not the people of Houston who are the problem -- it's strict ordinances that target the homeless as criminals.

"Most people don't want to hire someone with a criminal record. Most apartment complexes don't want to rent to people who have a criminal record, so if you're writing citations and giving them a criminal record you make it harder for them to exit homelessness," Love explained.

Without hope -- or a home -- life on the streets is all that's left.