Conference attendees decry bill banning unauthorized camping, sleeping on public land
As many as 170 communities have enacted ordinances banning unauthorized camping and sleeping since last June when the U.S. Supreme Court okayed them, Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, told attendees of the 'Bringing it Home 2025' conference in Raleigh on Thursday.
Fining, jailing or ticketing someone experiencing homelessness for unauthorized camping or sleeping outside will not solve the homelessness problem, said Whitehead, the event's keynote speaker. He urged conference participants to fight against proposed legislation in North Carolina that would make unauthorized camping and sleeping illegal.
'I'm asking you today, before you leave this conference, call your representative in Washington, in the state House, make sure that North Carolina doesn't become included in those communities that are criminalizing homelessness,' Whitehead said.
Whitehead was referring to House Bill 781, which is winding its way through the General Assembly. The bill would ban unauthorized camping and sleeping on public property and allow local governments by 'majority vote' to designate local government-owned property to be used for a 'continuous period of up to one year for public camping or sleeping purposes.' Local governments can renew the one-year period.
Whitehead shared that a 2014 study in Osceola, Florida found that 37 chronically homeless people were arrested approximately 1,250 times at a cost of more than $6 million to the community.
'We know, if you jail, fine or arrest somebody, it does not solve homelessness,' Whitehead said. 'Criminalization is not the solution, but those are local decisions, and the only way we can have an impact on those local solutions, those local issues, is that we have to be advocates in our community beyond the service.'
Rep. Brian Biggs (R-Randolph), a cosponsor of HB 781 has pushed back against claims the bill criminalizes homelessness.
'This bill does not criminalize homelessness,' Biggs insisted. 'It addresses unauthorized public property camping and sleeping without prohibiting homelessness itself.'
Biggs has said HB 781 grew out of conversations with municipal leaders who asked for guidance around handling the state's growing homeless crisis. He said the state can no longer wait to address the problem.
Speaking just ahead of Whitehead on Thursday, Gov. Josh Stein also took aim at HB 781, contrasting it with bills introduced this session that are designed to increase affordable housing stock. Stein said lawmakers have put forward 'many creative solutions' to address the state's housing shortage, such as a proposal to allow developers to build new housing in any area zoned for commercial, retail or office use without having to rezone the property.
'They're [lawmakers] thinking boldly about how we can increase housing supply, and this is certainly an issue where there is a possibility for bipartisan solutions,' Stein said. 'On the other hand, we are seeing efforts at the General Assembly to make sleeping in a park a crime. No one should have to sleep outside. It's a real problem, but we need to find real solutions by connecting people with supportive services and putting more roofs over more heads.'
Bans on authorized camping and sleeping are coming as the rate of homelessness is rising, Whitehead said.
'Last year, we had the highest number of people experiencing homelessness in the history of our country, at least since it's been measured by Congress, which goes back to the early 2000s, over 770,000 people (an 18% increase over the previous year),' Whitehead said.
HUD's 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) found that the number of people experiencing homelessness increased in every category — except for veterans — measured during the department's annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. The count is a snapshot of the number of individuals in shelters, temporary housing and unsheltered on a single night.
The Founding Fathers in the Preamble to the Constitution promised U.S. citizens life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, Whitehead said.
'You can't pursue happiness sleeping under a bridge,' Whitehead said. 'There is no liberty when you are fined, jailed or ticketed because you can't afford a place to live. You cannot pursue happiness if you lay your head in the back of an automobile.'
State advocates for people experiencing homelessness contend HB 781 will diminishes local autonomy while making cities and counties both fiscally responsible and legally liable for the implementing state-sanctioned encampment policies. The NC Coalition to End Homelessness (NCCEH) has also expressed concern that the proposal is being pushed by the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank, that has led efforts to pass similar legislation in Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin and Kentucky.
The institute was founded by tech-industry capitalist Joe Lonsdale, who is critical of the 'housing first' approach to ending homelessness. That model prioritizes providing individuals and families with permanent, affordable housing as the first step in ending their plight.
'While Cicero describes itself as a think tank, its policies promote industries that potentially profit from criminalizing poverty,' said Dr. Latonya Agard, executive director of NCCEH. Agard said Cicero's policies promote industries that will potentially profit from criminalizing poverty. 'States that adopted Cicero laws find they are funneling more public money into incarceration, so while these bills could lead to the financial enrichment of out-of-state investors of privatized jails and prisons and monitoring technologies, they will worsen conditions for North Carolinians without housing,' Agard said.
Both Stein and Whitehead expressed concerns about proposed federal budget cuts to eliminate Section 8 housing.
'More than 25,000 people in North Carolina depend on Section 8 to have a home they can't afford to have that support taken away from them, and we cannot afford it either,' Stein said. 'Let's work to expand access to housing, not take it away.'
Stein said he's also concerned about proposed cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.) The SNAP program, once referred to as Food Stamps, provides low-income families with food for an adequate diet.
'These cuts pose a serious threat to the wallets and wellbeing of so many hard-working families here in North Carolina,' Stein said. 'Cuts to essential needs like health care and food make it that much harder for people to afford housing, and they'll make it even harder for our state to afford to support our people.'
Whitehead said the proposed cuts to the nation's social safety net programs would push more people into homelessness and cause harm to those who are already unsheltered.
'If that budget goes through, it would be a devastating impact on people experiencing homelessness,' he said. 'I don't know who you voted for, but I don't think you voted for an 80% reduction in HUD [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] staff or $1 trillion worth of cuts between Medicaid and the SNAP program — I don't think that's what you voted for — and all of that in order to be able to enact a $45 trillion tax cut, which benefits people at the top of the economic ladder.'
Devdutta Sangvai, the N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said that in the coming days the proposed Medicaid and SNAP cuts will be widely discussed. Sangvai reminded conferences attendees that both are connected to housing.
'Behavioral Health is connected to housing. Housing is connected to child care. Child Care is connected to the economy,' Sangvai said. 'We do not have to artificially connect the dots to make a point. It is proven. There are data out there to support that. And so we really need to understand that if we don't address the homelessness issue in the housing crisis, it poses a direct threat to the stability and economic well being of North Carolina.'
Bring It Home 2025 is sponsored by the N.C. Housing Coalition, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and the N.C. Coalition to End Homelessness. The conference concludes Friday.
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