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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition expresses extreme disappointment and alarm over language added to SB 197 at the very last minute, which would charge people experiencing homelessness with a Class C Misdemeanor merely for sleeping outside. This language was amended into the bill during a committee hearing without public notice or the opportunity for public testimony or input. The Coalition urges lawmakers to quickly remove this Class C Misdemeanor from SB 197 and to abandon any future efforts to criminalize homelessness.
During the final meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on April 7, the committee added Amendment #6 (titled ‘Use of public land’) to a bill on an unrelated and not germane topic, the Unsafe building law. The bill was then passed out of committee by a 7-3 vote with no opportunity for public testimony.
SB 197 now “[m]akes it a Class C misdemeanor for a person to use public property of the state or a political subdivision for purposes of sleeping or camping”, whether there is housing and services available or not. A Class C Misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Furthermore, the bill puts the burden of enforcing this new crime on local law enforcement who are already experiencing staffing shortages and jail overcrowding. The bill would also place an undue burden on smaller and more rural counties, as nearly half of all counties reported to the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority in 2024 that they have insufficient resources to serve unhoused people.
The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition firmly believes that criminalization of homelessness is the wrong path to respond to homelessness in Indiana. It does harm and in cities that have implemented making sleeping outside a crime and further exacerbates the homelessness issue. This approach ties the hands of local jurisdictions to do what they need to do to effectively address unsheltered homelessness. Failing to allow public testimony on this bill rejects the Hoosier value of transparency, and this issue is not germane to the bill to which it was inserted. Bottom line: our counties need the resources to help those experiencing homelessness, and this amendment places undue burden on local law enforcement, jails, and hospitals that are not equipped to play the role of homelessness experts in this misguided approach. Instead, we should rely on street outreach professionals, clinicians, and those working every day to effectively serve those experiencing homelessness.
"We have been at the table and more than willing to work with legislators to offer common sense solutions to effectively address unsheltered homelessness,” said Dr. Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, Executive Director of CHIP and a HHNC Steering Committee member. “Criminalization is not a common-sense solution - it diverts critical resources away from services and housing and only prolongs someone's homelessness. There is no evidence that it has worked anywhere else and an abundance of evidence that housing with robust services does. Strong and safe communities start with stable housing. Let's make the smart and right decisions for our most vulnerable neighbors. Fines and jail are not the right nor smart solution."
"The 'housing wage' needed to afford to a modest home is rising much faster than the average renter's wages, pricing too many Hoosier families out of housing and into homelessness," said Andrew Bradley, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy for Prosperity Indiana and a HHNC Steering Committee member. "Criminalizing homelessness not only adds a criminal record to the Hoosiers whose jobs no longer pay the rent, but it also puts the burden of enforcement on local law enforcement while draining community services. Lawmakers must remove the Class C Misdemeanor from SB 197 and instead focus on strategies to align funding and resources to restore the supply and affordability of housing in Indiana."
The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition calls on lawmakers to remove the Class C Misdemeanor from SB 197 and to avoid the path of the criminalization of homelessness in any future legislation. The Coalition remains committed to continuing the necessary work of ending homelessness and stands ready to assist in policy efforts to that end, but this is not the answer.
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