By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
April 18, 2025
For a second time this legislative session, Indiana lawmakers on Thursday backed away from passing a bill which organizations that advocate for homeless people said would put those who sleep on the streets at risk of being charged with a crime for “camping” in public spaces.
Legislators, meeting in a conference committee, stripped language from Senate Bill 197, which was not in the draft of the bill passed by the Indiana Senate but had been amended into the measure when it was in the Indiana House. The new provision, resurrected from House Bill 1662 that died earlier in the session, would have prohibited street camping and given law enforcement the ability to charge homeless individuals with a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.
Now, the version of SB 197 that emerged from the conference committee must be passed by both the House and Senate before the end of April or it will not advance to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.
The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition fought hard against the language of the amendment, saying “handcuffs, jail sentences and fines” would not solve the problem of homelessness, and, instead, only put additional barriers in front of Hoosiers who already can’t afford housing. Coalition member Prosperity Indiana thanked Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, one of SB 197’s authors, for removing the amendment, but warned the “zombie language” could still be slipped into a bill as the General Assembly heads into the final week of its 2025 session.
“It was a relief to see the criminalization of homelessness language removed from SB 197, although we know the work isn’t done because that language could still reappear in another bill,” Andrew Bradley, senior director of policy and strategy for Prosperity Indiana, said in a statement. “Members of the housing, law enforcement, veterans’ and faith community agree: the criminalization of homelessness debate should be over for the 2025 session. Bringing back this zombie language would be bad process, as this issue has never been allowed public testimony in the Senate, or in any bill that’s still alive.”
The provision amended into SB 197 revived the debate in the legislature over how to address homelessness and help individuals who do not have their own apartment or house. Representatives in the House argued passionately over the new language for almost an hour on Monday, when SB 197 was on third reading.
In the end, the amended version of SB 197 passed on a 52-to-40 vote. Sixteen Republicans and 24 Democrats voted against the bill.
“I think putting a person in jail for circumstances beyond their control is heartless,” Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, said. “I believe this piece of legislation is one of the most heartless pieces of legislation I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve been here for 33 years.”
The language added to SB 197 was lifted from House Bill 1662, introduced this session by Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland. Backed by the Cicero Institute, a conservative, Texas-based think tank, that bill died on the House floor as the result of fierce opposition from both leaders of nonprofits that provide services to homeless individuals and people who, at one time, had lived on the streets.
Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, R-Shelbyville, successfully offered the amendment to SB 197 during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on April 7. The provision was presented as an amend-and-vote procedure, so the public did not have any opportunity to testify. Meltzer echoed supporters of the amendment’s language, saying the intent is to get homeless persons the help they need.
“The issue of homelessness is one that is very difficult and complicated to navigate,” Meltzer told The Indiana Citizen in an email. “My heart goes out to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, and I want them to be given the opportunity to receive shelter and mental health support. The amendment is a balance between helping those in our community who are struggling, while also recognizing the public at large deserves to enjoy safe and clean public parks and spaces.”
Prior to Monday’s vote, the partners in the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition gathered at the Statehouse to speak to legislators about opposing SB 197. They said the root of Indiana’s homeless problem is a lack of affordable housing and pointed to statistics showing that Indiana has less than 38 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income households. Moreover, the data they cited indicates Hoosiers need to make $22.07 an hour to rent “a modest two bedroom” apartment, but the average renter earns only $17.92 per hour.
“Hoosiers are being priced out of housing and into homelessness and now the General Assembly is on the verge of criminalizing being too poor to afford housing,” Bradley said.
Jennifer Layton, CEO of LTHC Homeless Services in Lafayette, was not optimistic on Monday that the advocates for homeless people would be able to stop SB 197. She said the bill is reflective of the belief held by many that people are homeless by choice and do not want to connect to the services and resources which could help them find a permanent place to live. Putting this vulnerable population in jail will not solve the problem of homelessness, she said, but instead could make the situation worse, since homeless people could get a criminal record, which would make getting hired for a job or renting an apartment even more difficult.
The key to reducing homelessness is more affordable, attainable housing, Layton said.
“I know that we like to blame mental health issues and we like to blame substance use disorder, but I’m going to tell you right now that underneath all of that is a lack of stable housing,” Layton said. “When people don’t have a safe place to go, not only does it exacerbate their own health conditions, but clearly, substance use and mental health get exacerbated as well, so it’s really just a compiled, convoluted situation for people.”
Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, sponsored SB 197 in the House and defended the criminal penalties in the bill during the debate on the floor. He agreed Indiana “will never arrest (its) way out of this problem,” and maintained law enforcement has to go through several steps before taking a homeless person to the county lockup. However, he said the carrot-and-stick approach is needed to get these individuals to accept help.
“That’s what this bill is about. It’s about helping individuals, getting them the resources they need,” Ireland said. “And the only way that you can actually make that happen is by having (a) penalty on the other end.”
Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, who led the work to update Indiana’s criminal code and authored subsequent bills focused on providing treatment, rather than arrest and incarceration, for those suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse, told House members that homelessness ripples beyond the individuals and impacts their family and friends who want to help but do not know how to connect their loved ones to services. He said SB 197 would use the pathway created by previous bills and approved by law enforcement to get people without housing who are experiencing mental-health issues assessed and into treatment programs.
“It follows the path that we’ve already created,” Steuerwald said of SB 197. “Get them assessed, get them services. That’s what we want.”
Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, spoke passionately against the amended SB 197, and, at one point, loudly exclaimed, “How dare us” tell the homeless that we “know what’s better for you than you know yourself.” Reiterating the message of the bill’s opponents that Indiana has a housing crisis and working families are struggling to find safe, decent and affordable places to live, he said people facing homelessness were doing the best they can with what they have, but SB 197 imposes upon them what society wants and desires.
“To me, (the bill is saying) the best way … to help them is to lock them up,” Porter said. “The only way we can help you is to lock you up. The only way we can help you is to pile on. The only way we can help you in this city, in this state, is to lock you up, get rid of you, get you out of our eyesight.”
When HB 1662 died in the House in February, advocates for the homeless anticipated the language would be revived before the session ended. Still, they were disheartened that the provision came back and was attached to SB 197, co-authored by Freeman and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen.
The amendment to SB 197 is not a duplicate of HB 1662. Although it did make street camping a crime, the amended SB 197, unlike HB 1662, did not include any language barring a local municipality from enacting an ordinance that would discourage police from enforcing the statute. Also, SB 197 did not contain the provision in HB 1662 that provided homeless individuals with a defense against prosecution if services or a shelter was not available within five miles of where the violation occurred.
Instead, under the amended SB 197, law-enforcement officers would have been able to detain and transport a homeless individual to an appropriate facility if they determined that person was mentally ill. If police determined the individual was not mentally ill, then the officers would have had to issue a warning to the homeless person to move from the public space and then offer transport to a homeless shelter as well as call a crisis intervention team. A homeless person who “knowingly or intentionally” did not comply within 24 hours in a public right of way or 72 hours on public land, such as a park, had to be arrested and charged with a Class C misdemeanor.
The provision also allowed that the resulting criminal case could have been referred to a problem-solving court.
Sarah Conrad, who experienced homelessness as a child and young adult, returned to the Statehouse to, again, share her story and try to convince the state representatives to reject the bill. She had visited the legislature in February, when HB 1662 was given a hearing in the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee. While she was trying to be optimistic that the lawmakers would toss the criminalization provision, she said she did not want to get too confident and jinx herself.
“I encourage (the legislators) to seek out people who are currently homeless and talk to them,” Conrad said. “They are also their constituents. You know, (the lawmakers) are not just representing people who go to the polls. They’re representing people who can’t go out to the polls.”
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.
