Debra Stacy a white flag coordinator with the Homelessness Coalition of Southern Indiana, asks lawmakers to reconsider a “squatter” bill on Jan. 15, 2025. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
As temperatures hover in the single digits and snow continues to blanket large swaths of the state, lawmakers are considering a “squatter” bill that some advocates say will only add to the state’s growing homeless population by chipping away at tenant rights.
“This bill literally tries to take power from the court and put it in the hands of the landlord, (who) will then have the wherewithal to kick out individuals who may not have the circumstances in their favor,” said James Earl Jones, a recovering addict and a pastor with the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Connersville.
Quoting Isaiah 58:7, Jones said that God directed his followers to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. He spoke as one of several community organizers assembled at the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday pushing the General Assembly to provide “Care not Cuffs” to Hoosiers this legislative session.
As a Christian, I’m offended that our state and local leaders don’t do more towards harm reduction and try to save lives.
– Tony Hostetler, Hoosier Action Community Organizer
“He set me free from heroin … I could not have done it if God had not been with me,” Jones said. “So all that I ask, is for us — as residents and constituents — that we have the same mercy.”
Senate Bill 157 is one of several bills — many with identical language — this year that would require police to remove a “squatter” within 48 hours. Though scheduled a hearing on Wednesday afternoon, a committee chair delayed the bill after the author had a conflict.
Indiana Legal Services flagged the bills, saying it allows landlords to bypass courts.
“(Landlords) file a statement with law enforcement and the police can remove people without a hearing or judicial review,” warned the non-profit in a handout. “Without court oversight, landlords gain more power to dictate terms and evict tenants unfairly. Tenants may feel pressured not to assert their rights, such as requesting repairs or disputing unfair treatment.”
Tenants with verbal rental agreements or on month-to-month leases would be especially vulnerable, it added.
In southern Indiana, one homeless person had already died during this month’s cold snap and another had been hospitalized, said Debra Stacy, who works with the Homeless Coalition in Southern Indiana.
“Last year … sheltering 52 (people) was a big number. This year, I’m sheltering about 70 every night. It’s a huge increase,” said Stacy, whose area includes Floyd, Clark, Scott, Harrison and Crawford counties.
Forty-eight hours before police intervention “gives nobody any time to render services,” said Stacy.
It can take her organization five to seven business days to submit claims requesting funding for a specific person. The state may then take “weeks” to respond — too long to assist someone who may only have 48 hours before they’re on the street.
“If I’m working on someone that has been street homeless for four or five years and I’m trying to get them into housing and then they catch the squatter charge or trespassing charge — when the authorities could have called me and I could have removed them — then now we’ve created another barrier and it makes my job harder,” Stacy said.
Reducing drug overdoses
Another focus for organizers this session is harm reduction services related to the state’s ongoing opioid crisis, which has killed thousands of Hoosiers and impacted hundreds of thousands of lives.
The Prison Policy Initiative reports that Indiana has an incarceration rate of 721 per 100,000 people, higher than many other countries and above the national average of 614. For Tony Hostetler, a community organizer with Hoosier Action focused on promoting “Care not Cuffs,” that rate epitomized the state’s resistance to policies that reduce harm.
“Harm reduction is set up to decrease social and medical consequences in their environment. It’s proven time and time again — all over the country — that it works and incarceration doesn’t,” Hostetler said. “As a Christian, I’m offended that our state and local leaders don’t do more towards harm reduction and try to save lives.”
Hostetler and other speakers praised an effort to decriminalize drug testing strips that advanced through a House committee that morning, a bill that failed to move the year before. The tool allows a user to test their substances and identify if a particular dose is laced with a stronger drug — something that advocates say has saved lives.
Current law makes possession of test strips a crime.
“Harm reduction is not about endorsing drug use, it’s about acknowledging the realities people face and taking practical steps to keep them safe. It’s about saving lives, reducing suffering and creating opportunities for recovery,” said Tracy Skaggs, the executive director of Project Recovery. “I’ve seen how harm reduction opens the door for meaningful relationships. The trust established from these relationships often leads individuals to seek treatment and recovery.”
Drug overdose deaths have fallen in the most recent year, a sharp reversal after years of more and more deaths. Other efforts to reduce deaths include the distribution of overdose reversal drugs and syringe exchange programs. Advocates pointed to a bill that would expand eligible entities for the latter as an example of legislation they supported.
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