By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
February 14, 2025
Doris Jones, a resident of Indianapolis, knows about homelessness from firsthand experience.
The single mother of two works two jobs and is attending school with the hopes of becoming an early childhood educator. However, just a few years ago, she was homeless, fleeing domestic violence and bouncing with her youngsters between stays with relatives and in shelters.
Monday, she took time from her job as a custodian to go to the Indiana Statehouse and testify before the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee about House Bill 1662. The measure, which would prohibit “street camping,” has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who say the proposed legislation would criminalize homeless individuals just for sitting or sleeping on a sidewalk or public space.
Jones did not pepper legislators with statistics or plead with them to defeat HB 1662. Instead, she talked about the small organization she co-founded that puts together care packages for people living on the streets and relayed stories about living in encampments.
She concluded her remarks with some simple advice. “If you’ve never experienced being homeless, then I suggest not to come up with these kinds of bills that will only attack the homeless,” Jones said. “Come up with a solution to put more shelters on the streets, instead of harassing people who only need housing. That’s the issue, more affordable housing, more shelters.”
The House committee adjourned before taking a vote on HB 1662. Opponents plan to continue contacting lawmakers before the next hearing on Feb. 17 and urge them to reject the bill.
Even if the measure passes through committee, it will have to meet a strict deadline to move on to the Senate. The midpoint of the General Assembly’s 2025 session is the end of next week, so HB 1662 will have to get through second and third readings in the full House by Feb. 20.
The bill’s author, Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, was unavailable to answer questions after the House committee’s hearing on Monday, but her office released a statement.
“I authored House Bill 1662 this session to help keep our communities safe, accessible and well maintained for everyone,” Davis said in the statement. “This measure sets clear guidelines while allowing flexibility and compassion in enforcement. This is just a start, and we need to continue to look for long-term solutions to help reduce homelessness.”
Hale Crumley, policy manager for Prosperity Indiana, said her organization is opposing the bill and has put forth three amendments to try to improve the legislation. One amendment would require state agencies that interact with homeless individuals and families to share data and communicate with each other, which Crumley said, they are not currently doing. Another amendment would provide seed money for local police departments to develop programs to help homeless people.
Prosperity Indiana’s final proposed amendment would remove the bill from consideration and put it into an interim study committee. This amendment reflects the organization’s view that, according to Crumley, “even in amended form (HB 1662) is irredeemable.” The state already has laws that address acts like blocking an entrance or public intoxication, but this bill would be “putting homeless people in handcuffs for being outside when they have nowhere else to go,” she said.
“I think there’re too many risks here, so we would like to see the bill die outright. But we do have legislative language ready for something better,” Crumley said of HB 1662. “It’s just that we would like to start from the beginning from a more positive place, a collaborative place.”
Under the terms of HB 1662, individuals could not “camp, sleep, or use for long term shelter” land owned by the state or local municipality. Individuals violating the law would first be given a warning by police but, if they do not move within 24 hours, they could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor.
The measure also would ban local governments from adopting any policy or ordinance that would prohibit police or the prosecutor from enforcing the anti-street-camping law. In addition, a resident or business owner in the community as well as the Indiana attorney general could file a civil action against a municipality for violating the statute.
In presenting HB 1662 to the House committee, Davis read through the provisions in the amended bill but did not comment on why she authored the measure or what she hoped it would do.
Davis also did not provide detailed answers to the committee members’ questions. When Rep. Chris Campbell, D-West Lafayette, asked Davis how a police officer would know if a homeless person had been street camping in the same location for 24 hours, Davis replied, “That would be up to the law enforcement.” Campbell pressed by asking would a person who moved to the next block during the 24-hour period still face a criminal charge, but, again, Davis was vague, responding, “I guess that would be up to law enforcement to determine how they handle that.”
Lena Hackett of the Marion County Reentry Coalition, which helps individuals leaving the criminal justice system reintegrate into the community, described HB 1662 as “criminalization at its worst.” She told the committee that if the bill becomes law, people could be put in handcuffs and charged with a crime for simply not having a permanent address.
Moreover, Hackett said, a Class C misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to 60 days and a fine of $500. Getting charged “could be life changing for many folks,” because it could prevent them from getting an apartment or a job, and, for some on probation or parole, it could put them back behind bars, she said.
HB 1662 is based on model legislation from the Cicero Institute, a conservative, nonpartisan nonprofit focused on public policy. Davis introduced a similar measure during the 2024 legislative session, but she withdrew the bill after talking to advocates for the indigent and the homeless.
Devon Kurtz, public safety policy director at the Texas-based Cicero Institute, spoke in support of HB 1662, saying homelessness has become “an unsheltered humanitarian disaster.” He claimed, without offering any evidence, that many of the outreach programs aimed at helping the homeless were effective “less than a third of time.” Consequently, Kurtz said, many of the people living on the street need pressure and support from law enforcement and service providers because he said they are too unwell to act in their own best interests.
“The goal of this policy is not for a single person to go to jail, but in extreme circumstances, law enforcement must intervene to save lives,” Kurtz said.
Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, president and executive director of the Greater Indianapolis Multifaith Alliance, disputed the Cicero Institute’s arguments for HB 1662. He said the institute’s billionaire founder was pushing an unworkable, one-size-fits-all solution to address homelessness.
“In reality, there is no one solution and homelessness is a local, sometimes hyperlocal, issue that needs resources, not edits,” Spiegel said. “There is more than 20 years of data that shows the solution to homelessness is housing and that the only direct causation for homelessness is a lack of housing.”
Sarah Conrad first experienced housing instability and homelessness as a child in the early 2000s, when her parents told her and her siblings that they might lose their home. At age 14, she ran away and from there, her life spiraled to living in her car and becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Conrad credited a “communal effort” with enabling her to get off the street and into a house in Fort Wayne, along with some stability. She had traveled to the Statehouse to testify against HB 1662, but the House committee ended the hearing before she and some others were able to speak. So, standing outside the House chamber, Conrad gripped a white sheet of paper and read her remarks to The Indiana Citizen.
“This bill further dehumanizes those that are most vulnerable in our society and shows a complete rejection of care for our fellow humans,” Conrad said. “Any approval of this bill only proves to Hoosiers that you have never truly known struggle and that their representatives do not hold value or care of their lives.”
Speaking after the hearing, Niki Wattson, street manager for Horizon House in Indianapolis, said a majority of the homeless have endured a catastrophic life event that left them without a place to live. The events can range from a fire, domestic violence, a financial squeeze caused by medical debt, or rising rent that led to an eviction.
While the causes of homelessness vary, Wattson said there is a single solution. “Housing is the answer,” she said.
Lauren Murfree, policy analyst for Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute, agreed.
INCAP supports the “housing first” approach to homelessness, Murfree said, which provides people living on the street with a permanent residence, before addressing other needs they may have, such as mental health counseling, job training and substance-abuse treatment. However, getting individuals or families into a house or, even better, keeping people from losing their home in the first place, is difficult because of the lack of affordable housing. She cited data which shows Hoosiers must make at least $22.07 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment, but the top two jobs in Indiana are laborers and freight, stock and material movers, and fast-food counter workers which paid a mean hourly wage of $19.11 and $13.16 per hour, respectively, according to 2023 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We don’t feel like this bill is addressing the issue at all,” Murfree said of HB 1662. “The bill, itself, in any capacity, would harm Hoosiers.”
Abby Failey, a driver for Door Dash, held a neon green sign opposing HB 1662 throughout the committee hearing on the bill. Since her regular delivery route takes her into downtown Indianapolis, she keeps her Jeep stocked with essentials that will help the homeless, including blankets and coats in the winter and bottles of water in the summer. Sometimes, she said, people just want to talk, so she will spare a few minutes to listen.
Failey called HB 1662 a “monstrous bill.” She said homeless people need housing and jobs, but the only thing this proposed legislation will accomplish is increasing the jail population and giving people criminal records.
“Pushing people out of sight does not solve the problem,” Failey said.
This article has been updated to provide the 2023 wage data for Indiana from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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.
