New Legislation Would Criminalize Sleeping Outside While Forcing People into Treatment, Debt, or Jail
Lawmakers in Louisiana’s House of Representatives recently passed a bill that seeks to impose fines and jail time on people who publicly camp because they have nowhere else to live.
The legislation, known as House Bill 211, makes it a crime for someone experiencing homelessness to publicly camp on property that is not designated as a campground. People who violate the law can be subject to fines of not more than $500 and six months of imprisonment on first conviction, which is considered a misdemeanor.
A second conviction is considered a felony and carries a $1,000 fine and up to two years of imprisonment with or without hard labor.
It would also give local governments the legal authority to create temporary camps where people experiencing unsheltered homelessness can stay and create specialized courts to handle cases involving acts associated with homelessness.
“The Legislature of Louisiana recognizes that there is a critical need for criminal justice system programs to assist those persons who are experiencing homelessness in order to reduce the incidence of substance abuse disorders, untreated mental health issues, destruction and disruption of use of public property, significant public health and safety issues, and crimes committed by those experiencing homelessness,” the bill reads in part.
“There is also a need for programs to assist those experiencing homelessness with mental health issues, including mental health diagnoses and undiagnosed mental illnesses,” it adds. “Moreover, many experiencing homelessness suffer from co-occurring disorders of substance abuse and mental illness. These problems can cause those experiencing homelessness to have involvement with the criminal justice system.”
Rising Homelessness Meets Shrinking Resources
The bill has been introduced at a time when the number of people experiencing homelessness in Louisiana is on the rise. Last year, more than 18,000 people received homeless services in the state, a number that has remained relatively stable over the last five years. However, unsheltered homelessness has increased by 35% since 2020, up to more than 1,500 people sleeping outside across the state.
At the same time, the number of people residing in state shelters has fallen dramatically across Louisiana. State data shows that just 59% of people who are homeless in Louisiana received emergency shelter coverage. Meanwhile, the number of available year-round emergency shelter beds has declined by nearly 5% over the last five years to 2,468, federal data shows.
Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Democrat, told local news station WAFB that the bill is “isolating and concentrating” people who are homeless in certain districts instead of helping them connect with services and housing.
“What we are doing is taking those who the government finds undesirable, and we are isolating them and concentrating them in one area—that’s the definition of a concentration camp to me, and I know this is not her intent, but that’s the reality of it all,” Jordan said.
Rep. Debbie Villio, a Republican who sponsored the bill, told the local news outlet that the legislation is designed to create “external pressure” to ensure people who are homeless take advantage of the services that are available.
“I know I sound like a broken record with the external pressure, but that’s the external pressure you need to get them to cooperate and get them the help they need and get them off the streets,” Villo said.
A National Push Toward Criminalization
Advocates have pointed out that the bill is modeled after the copy-paste legislation authored by the Cicero Institute, an Austin-based think tank that advocates for more criminalization of homelessness.
For instance, the National Homelessness Law Center described the bill as “one of the cruelest anti-homeless bills in the country.”
“This bill requires homeless people to pay for the very treatment they are forced into. And if the person cannot pay the cost of treatment, this bill requires them to perform unpaid labor for the government or a community organization to pay off their debt,” the group said in a statement.
“Louisiana has a long history–and present–of chain gangs, prison labor, and entrenched white supremacy. This bill clearly evokes debtor’s prisons, convict leasing, and the ugliest day of Jim Crow.”
Bill Quigley, director of the Gullis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans, described HB 211 to Common Dreams as a “cruel theatre of the absurd.” He said that it not only advances the “lie” that people choose to be homeless, but it also assumes that communities have all the resources they need to end homelessness.
“If people had the resources to pay for housing and physical and/or mental health services, they would not be on the street,” Quigley said.
New Orleans City Council member Lesli Harris also called on lawmakers to reject the bill, arguing that it will increase taxpayer burdens without guaranteeing positive outcomes for people impacted by the legislation.
“The bill’s internment camp provisions raise additional concerns,” Harris said in a statement. “Local governments could only establish these facilities in areas that would not affect surrounding property values, placing them far from public transportation, employment, and the very services people need to get back on their feet. That is not a path to stability. It is a path to further isolation.”
Advocates Call for Housing Solutions Over Institutional Expansion
Now is not the time to be silent about homelessness in America. Poverty and homelessness are both policy choices, not personal failures. That’s why we need you to contact your officials and tell them you support legislation that:
- Streamlines the development of affordable housing
- Reduces barriers for people experiencing homelessness to enter permanent housing
- Bolsters government response to homelessness
Together, we can end homelessness.
