A bill pending in the Indiana Legislature would create a criminal penalties for unsheltered individuals who sleep or camp on public property. (Stock photo by Kypros/Getty Images)
Statehouse testimony on Monday was almost entirely against an Indiana bill that seeks to crack down on homelessness by making “street camping” on public property a crime.
House Bill 1662, authored by Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, would specifically create Class C misdemeanor for “camp(ing), sleep(ing), or us(ing) for long term shelter land owned by the state or a political subdivision, unless the land has been authorized for that use by law.”
The current version of the bill additionally seeks to ban communities from using state funds for permanent housing of homeless people. But an amendment proposed by Davis in the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee would remove that language, and also delete a provision establishing incentives for local units that successfully reduce their unhoused populations in jails and hospitals.
Committee chairman Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, didn’t take a vote on Monday but does plan to schedule another committee. He did not make clear if House Bill 1662 would be added to the agenda.
Bills face a Feb. 17 deadline to advance from committees. Any legislation left behind is dead — but even dead bill language can remerge before the session concludes in late April.
Davis said the bill was “brought” to her by the Cicero Institute. The Texas-based think tank has lobbied in roughly a dozen states for homelessness policies that shift money away from housing initiatives and instead direct dollars toward substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Of the 14 people who were allowed to testify on Monday, all but one spoke out against the proposal.
“Every single day, I see too many people who are sleeping on our sidewalks. I know what works, and I know what doesn’t. What works is affordable housing. Until we have sufficient housing and shelter, we will continue to see public camping on our sidewalks,” said Jennifer Layton, president of LTHC Housing Services in Lafayette. “What no one needs is to be arrested and charged with a crime due to their housing status. It will waste officers’ time, it will waste community resources, and ultimately will do nothing but add another barrier which will only further inhibit their ability to secure housing. We need significant investment into affordable housing for unhoused Hoosiers, not handcuffs.”
A bill in flux
According to the bill, law enforcement would have to provide “street campers” a one-time warning and offer to take them to an authorized shelter location.
Those who have not moved within 24 hours of the warning can be arrested and charged with a Class C misdemeanor. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail or a $500 fine.
A carveout in the legislation would allow an unhoused person a defense that there was no legal shelter available within five miles.
Although not spelled out in the bill, Davis said it “would be up to law enforcement to determine” when the 24 hours have passed — and how to handle situations in which a person simply moves down the block or to a nearby sidewalk.
The measure further prevents Hoosier communities from enacting local policies that “discourage” law enforcement from carrying out enforcement, or that create exceptions to the provisions laid out in the bill. The Indiana attorney general would be permitted to bring a civil action against again city, town or other political subdivision found to be in violation.
What no one needs is to be arrested and charged with a crime due to their housing status.
– Jennifer Layton, president of LTHC Housing Services in Lafayette
When questioned by Democrats, Davis said her homelessness response “could be a local issue,” but maintained a statewide policy was more favorable.
The Republican lawmaker maintained, too, that her bill “do(es) not” overstep existing local discretion over whether a homeless person should be arrested or not.
Rep. John Bartlett, D-Indianapolis, disagreed.
“If a policeman makes an arrest, and they’ve got to stop and write a report, and it takes officers away from doing their daily job, I really think this is a local issue,” he said. “I don’t think this is a place for it.”
Devon Kurtz, public safety policy director at the Cicero Institute, cited unspecific data suggesting that in the last decade, Hoosiers experiencing homelessness “have become twice as likely to be on the street if they suffer from mental illness.” The number of homeless individuals who abuse drugs has also increased significantly, he said.
He was the only supporter who spoke.
“Many of these people are too unwell to act in their own best interests without pressure and support of law enforcement and outreach,” Kurtz continued. “Indiana and the country as a whole is not experiencing a homelessness crisis as much as experiencing an unsheltered humanitarian disaster. More must be done to help people leave the streets. Living on the street has three times the mortality rate as living in a shelter. Living on the street is simply unacceptable.”
‘Criminalizing’ homelessness
A 2022 Indiana report noted that nearly half of homeless individuals in the state have a mental illness, particularly among those who are chronically homeless.
Lori Phillips-Steel, director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing’s Indiana program, emphasized that Indiana is slowing the growth of homelessness.
Between 2023 and 2024, homelessness rose by 4.2% in Indiana compared to 18% nationally, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Between 2022 and 2023, homelessness in Indiana grew by 10.4%.
The latest federal survey for 2024 indicated 6,285 homeless Hoosiers statewide. Of those, 1,477 were considered “unsheltered,” which federal officials define as having a “primary nighttime location” in a public or private place “not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for people,” such as a car, public park, abandoned building, or tent.
‘Squatter’ bill, harm reduction policies bring advocates to Indiana Statehouse
“(These improvements) are due to evidence-based, cost efficient programs that help individuals find and retain stable housing,” Phillips-Steel said. “What Indiana needs is a stronger investment in services that help people get into housing and live stable lives.”
That includes programs for addressing substance use and mental health challenges, as well as supportive services through Indiana’s Workforce Bridge Account Program, which Phillips-Steel said “are proven to stabilize individuals and reduce costly emergency interventions.”
“House Bill 1662 will burden individuals with fines and arrest records and significantly burden taxpayers. It relies on expensive crisis response systems like policing, court systems, emergency medical services and jails,” she continued. “Individuals are often discharged right back into homelessness, perpetuating a cycle of homelessness and incarceration without actually reducing homelessness.
In contrast, she said, investments in support services and “pathways to housing” save cities and counties nearly $7,000 per person “by avoiding costly emergency responses.”
Phillips-Steel said Davis’ bill “undermines Indiana’s progress by imposing a one-size-fits-all approach and diverting resources from effective programs.”
Other activists similarly argued that Davis’s bill would “criminalize homelessness.”
Hale Crumley, representing Prosperity Indiana, said homelessness “is a little bit different in every corner of Indiana,” and that local units should not be preempted from addressing the issue “in the way that they believe is best, because they know their issues best.”
“We can fund the programs that data is showing is being successful. We know that we have those. We can incentivize private donations to those programs through our tax code. We can mandate data sharing and breaking down silos between all of the state agencies that interact with homeless individuals,” she said. “We’re not doing any of that right now. And we could do all of that before we arrest people.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.