By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
February 25, 2025
While advocates are cheering the defeat of a bill that they said would have criminalized homelessness, they do not believe the issue is dead in the Indiana Statehouse and, in fact, are preparing for its return before the end of the legislative session in late April.
House Bill 1662, based on model legislation crafted by the Cicero Institute, Texas-based conservative think tank, would have prohibited individuals from so-called “street camping,” which includes sleeping or staying long-term on a public sidewalk, in a park or some other public space. People violating that provision would first have received a warning, before facing a Class C misdemeanor charge for a second and subsequent violations.
The measure drew strong opposition from individuals who had struggled with homelessness as well as nonprofits and advocacy organizations who serve vulnerable populations, including the homeless. Although it passed the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee on a party-line vote, the legislation was not called for a third reading on Feb. 20, the deadline for getting bills through their respective chambers.
Hale Crumley, policy manager for Prosperity Indiana, which rallied much of the opposition, said the demise of the bill indicated it did not have enough Republican support in the Indiana House for passage. However, she is not declaring total victory.
“We consider this to be the win of a battle, but not the war,” Crumley said of HB 1662’s defeat. “We are well aware that there’s a high likelihood that the lobbyists who are working in favor of this bill are going to try and include this in a different bill in the second half of the session through some sort of amendment.”
Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, seemed to confirm Crumley’s expectation that the street camping language will come back before the legislature’s scheduled adjournment on April 29.
“I’m committed to working with the bill authors to find the right language,” Huston told The Indianapolis Star. “I think there’s language that we can get to that I think could have bipartisan support. We just weren’t there yet.”
Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, authored HB 1662, similar to a bill she offered last session but withdrew before it received a committee hearing. Speaking before the House committee during this session, Davis framed her bill as addressing public health hazards that homeless encampments can create as well as helping direct people to shelters, where they can receive treatment and services to become self-sufficient.
In addition to mandating another way to arrest the homeless, the bill would have also blocked local municipalities from enacting their own homeless policies that could have discouraged the enforcement of the street camping ban. Moreover, the measure would have enabled any resident, business owner or the Indiana attorney general to bring a civil lawsuit against any local government for failure to enforce the provisions in HB 1662.
“In order to maintain order in our cities, we must hold all cities and citizens, including the homeless, accountable to the rule of law,” Davis told the committee members.
Opponents said homelessness was caused by a lack of available housing. Rather than putting people who have no place to live in jail, they said the legislature and local communities should be focused on building more affordable housing.
“Instead of criminalizing homelessness, I urge you to focus on real, lasting solutions,” Rev. Gray Lesesne, dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Indianapolis, said at the first committee hearing on HB 1662. “Please invest in housing with wraparound services, expand affordable housing options, (and) strengthen tenant protections to prevent homelessness before it even begins. Punishing people for their poverty is not a solution.”
To bring the opposing sides together and derail the bill, Crumley said the key was starting the conversation on a point of agreement – that everyone wants the homeless off the streets and in a safer environment. From there, the two sides differed as to the best way to help people who have no place to live, but, she said, opponents and lawmakers were able to keep talking to each other because of what they agreed upon.
“If we didn’t have common ground on those things … there would have been a vote (Thursday) and it would have succeeded, but there wasn’t one,” Crumley said of HB 1662 not getting called for a third reading. “I think it’s because we continued to find common ground.”
However, Crumley acknowledged the fierce backlash against HB 1662 also helped to erode support among the Republican supermajority. Advocates, ordinary citizens and some lawmakers did not like that the bill prevented municipalities from crafting local solutions to homeless camping. Also, Crumley said, many viewed arresting people for being homeless as “unchristian and amoral.”
The opposition culminated in more than 500 emails inundating state legislators from Feb. 14 to Feb. 20, Crumley said.
“People are upset,” Crumley said. “People are just really upset that this is even being discussed because of the state of housing costs and things of that nature. They want to see real solutions.”
Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, was pleased with the defeat of the bill, saying the nonprofit is proud of how the community showed up to advocate for the homeless and stop the effort to arrest them for being homeless.
“We stand together with the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition and stand firm in our belief and in the evidence that housing and services is how we end homelessness,” Haring-Cozzi said in a statement. “Fining and jailing vulnerable people for systemic failures is never the solution.”
Davis, the bill’s author, did not respond to a request for comment about HB 1662’s defeat in the House.
Despite the bill not getting through the lower chamber, Crumley said Prosperity Indiana is encouraging opponents to stay engaged on the issue. She said she believes that lobbyists are working to revive the language in the bill and create an amendment to attach to another measure. As the final day of the session approaches, lawmakers will be tired and scrambling to get things completed, so an amendment with HB 1662’s provisions could slip past, she said.
Dead bills can be resuscitated, Crumley said, when a small group of people with a “very good understanding” of the legislative process and the “determination to work against the majority” takes advantage of the chaos that surrounds the end of a session and finds a way to insert the old language into a different bill.
The Cicero Institute does not appear to be giving up. In a statement to The Indiana Citizen, Devon Kurtz, public safety policy director for the organization, indicated the institute has broad plans beyond HB 1662.
“The Cicero Institute sees enforcement of street camping prohibitions as an essential foundation for a response to (homelessness) that takes seriously the public health and safety challenges on the street,” Kurtz said in a statement. “We will continue to support efforts by lawmakers to find the right balance between enforcement, diversion, and intervention. But we have no intention of stopping there — our hope is (to) work with lawmakers and service providers in Indiana to tackle the many other policy changes necessary to better help homeless Hoosiers: better data coordination, robust investments in shelter and transitional housing programs, and making sure people walking away from addiction have access to proper support and treatment.”
After HB 1662 effectively died last week, Prosperity Indiana and Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition partners called upon supporters to keep the pressure on legislators. The General Assembly is on break this week, but, as the nonprofits noted, lawmakers will be back in their home districts, giving concerned citizens a chance to continue to weaken support for the provisions in the bill.
“No matter where you are in Indiana, House Bill 1662 would have affected your community and the most vulnerable people in it,” Jennifer Layton, president and CEO of Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, said. “The official bill may be dead for now, but we all need to remain alert until the end of the legislative session.”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
