Latest news with #SaferKentuckyAct
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Madison County advocates for emergency shelter funding on ‘National Day of Action'
MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) — On Tuesday, advocates rallied nationwide and at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., demanding sustainable solutions for the chronic issue of homelessness. Organizations in Madison County are fighting for their unhoused population and say elected officials are focused on solutions that worsen the crisis. Michael Harrington, with the Madison County Tenants Union, said he works daily with dozens of people who don't have a place to sleep at night. He explained that homelessness is a crisis anyone can fall into. 'If we lose our jobs and are not able to pay the rent, what are we supposed to do?' he asked. Madison County advocates for emergency shelter funding on 'National Day of Action' Amber Spradlin murder case officially moved to Pike County 2 charged after pounds of meth, stolen gun seized during Kentucky traffic stop Shelbi Poole said Up Initiative is the only place in Berea where the unhoused can go for a free place to eat, shower, and do laundry, but it's unable to provide an overnight shelter. 'There's no funds for those types of things in this type of work,' said Poole. 'We operate on $200 worth of donations a month from a grant. Everything else has come in from people's hearts.' With no full-time emergency shelter available, there's no place for the homeless community to go at night without possible repercussions. Last year, the Safer Kentucky Act was signed into law. It made street camping illegal, meaning people found sleeping in a public place could face fines or jail time. 'As homelessness has become a crime in Kentucky, we cannot tolerate living in a county that says the only solution to homelessness is jail,' said Harrington. 'And the only place that we're allowed to be if we don't have a place to sleep inside is behind bars. Poole noted that with limited funding and a law like this in place, their hands are tied. Read more of the latest Lexington & central Kentucky news 'It's very hard for us to give somebody a tent to keep them out of the rain when they could go to jail for that tent that we provide them so that they have some sort of roof over their head,' said Poole. Harrington is advocating for change and building support for emergency shelter services by gathering petition signatures. He hopes that the fiscal court will step up and prioritize funding for emergency shelters. 'A public service, like an emergency shelter, really needs to be funded with public dollars,' he said. 'So, we want them to match the generosity that we've seen from residents, local congregations, and local businesses.' Read more of the latest Kentucky news We reached out to the Madison County Judge Executive and a magistrate for a comment but did not hear back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The ugly truth about the Safer Kentucky Act: It's cruel toward homeless people
I recently read an opinion piece by two advocates for the 'Safer Kentucky Act' entitled 'Despite fears of criminalizing homelessness, Kentucky's camping ban is working.' This piece enraged me. The real purpose of the law is to scare homeless people off of the streets and into hiding. Police don't need to issue a citation to do that. Fear is enough. Did these men interview a single homeless person? How about the people who work to address the problem of homelessness? I suspect not. The answers they would receive would not support their ridiculous claims. It seems quaint to describe living on the streets as 'camping.' A more accurate description is that our homeless brothers and sisters are 'trying to survive' on the streets. But I guess criminalizing 'trying to survive' sounds, well, a little too cold blooded even for the 'Safer KY' crowd. These apologists provide no evidence that the 'Safer Kentucky act' has made a single person safer or that a single homeless person has benefitted in any way. The ugly truth about the 'Safer Kentucky Act' is that it is cynical, morally repellant and cruel. —James Jackson, 40223 This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Safer Kentucky Act criminalizes homelessness | Letter
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Making Kentucky Sick Again
Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, is back with a bill to create a new crime, "interference with a legislative proceeding," aimed at Capitol protesters who lawmakers think have gotten too loud. Above, Blanton presents a similar bill in March 2024. It was passed by the House but died in the Senate. (LRC Public Information) Every legislative session has a theme. In 2023, Kentucky's GOP obsessed over sexuality and doubled down on humiliating already-vulnerable trans kids. Last year, Reps. Jason Nemes and Jared Bauman drove the Safer Kentucky Act (omni)bus into law, which made homelessness a crime and inexplicably did not bother to address gun violence prevention. This year, they're playing with people's lives. In other words, Making Kentucky Sick Again. Following the conspiracy-theory medical advice of anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration, the Kentucky Senate has made the boneheaded decision to create a task force to study what we already know: that vaccines save lives. Meanwhile, an unvaccinated child has died in Texas for the first time in a decade amidst a measles outbreak, and a case of measles has been reported here in the commonwealth. House Bill 16 aims to get rid of basic water fluoridation. Kentucky currently requires water utilities serving more than 3,000 customers to add low levels of fluoride to drinking water which, according to the National Institutes of Health, helps prevent cavities and tooth decay. Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, called fluoridation 'mass medicating without informed consent.' House Bill 173 would preempt local government from maintaining a registry of residential rental properties for any purpose, including lead hazard assessment and correction. Senate Bill 89 has opened the door to more pollution of groundwater, wetlands and small headwater streams. House Bill 137 is an industry-backed bill that could exclude evidence gathered by citizens and community groups from being considered in proceedings to enforce air pollution rules. Kissing the rings of millionaire and billionaire mine owners, Rep. John Blanton has filed House Bill 196 to reduce the required number of trained, certified coal miners who are able to respond to medical emergencies inside the mines. And because all of the above is not enough, Rep. Blanton has also filed House Bill 399 — let's call it the 'Jail Loud Dissenters Act' — because it seems our masculinity-obsessed GOP supermajority is terrified to hear from citizens who might too loudly express anger at their onslaught of dangerous, terrible bills. This is not a joke. Arrest authority and purview typically rest with law enforcement, but HB 399 'would give the House speaker, Senate president, committee chairs and House and Senate sergeants-at-arms the authority to order the arrests of anyone they believe is guilty of a new criminal offense, 'interference with a legislative proceeding.' First-degree interference with a legislative proceeding would be a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense, punishable by up to one year in jail. Further offenses would be a Class D felony, which carries up to five years in prison. Yes, this means what you think it means. Lawmakers want to cosplay as State Police and decide if you should be arrested. This has felt like an extraordinarily long winter. Dangerously cold temperatures for days on end; ice and snow keeping children out of school; yet another devastating flood; the price of groceries is through the roof; a return of the measles (the measles!!); thousands of federal employees here in Kentucky getting the same emails going out nationally from unelected multibillionaire Elon Musk's DOGE, demanding they prove their worth by listing five things they did last week or be fired. Every legislative session has a theme. Humiliating and terrifying the trans community in 2023. Punishing the homeless and pretending to make us safer in 2024. Making Kentucky Sick Again in 2025. I HOPE ELECTED REPUBLICANS ARE HAVING A GOOD TIME PLAYING WITH OUR LIVES. Oh. Sorry, Rep. Blanton. Was that too loud under HB 399? SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kentucky outlawed camping by the homeless. Now they 'gotta hide,' they say
COVINGTON, Ky. – Joseph Boles used to camp with a group of guys near the Ohio River. It was safer that way because he'd be less likely to have his things stolen when he was around people he knew, he said. That was before state lawmakers passed the Safer Kentucky Act last year, which targets people living on the streets by making it illegal for them – or anyone else – to sleep in undesignated spaces. Anyone cited with the offense for the first time can be fined. Subsequent offenses are Kentucky Class B misdemeanors and can bring more fines or jail time. "The idea that people feel entitled to just plop down wherever they want and live is something that people resent because it was disruptive," said former state Sen. John Schickel, who supported it. While the law was intended to make people feel safer in public, it's made life worse for people living on the streets. Boles said about half dozen police officers showed up at the tucked-away campsite he and his friends had set up on the riverfront last summer. "They said they passed that new law and we can't be here no more," he said. But the new law didn't provide more resources or funding for people experiencing homelessness. It left Boles and other unhoused people with few options but to dodge police. "You just gotta hide from them. It's hard," Boles said. "Ain't no help for the homeless out here." One of Schickel's friends is a business owner in Florence. According to the former lawmaker, several unhoused people set up camp near a parking lot customers use. "They got very aggressive with him when he asked them to leave," he said, but this was after the new law was passed. "So the police came and told them if they didn't leave they were being arrested. And they left," Schickel said. That's the kind of power and discretion intentionally built into the law. At least 266 charges were filed at district courts throughout Kentucky from July 15 to December 31, according to recently released data from the Kentucky Center for Statistics, a government-run data hub. The Northern Kentucky data shows, however, that local police aren't writing many tickets for unlawful camping. Three charges were filed in district court in Kenton County and three were filed in Campbell County. None were reported in Boone County. "Our police officers do use discretion. They don't want to cite people," Schickel said. "They just want to have an atmosphere in the communities where people feel safe to use public spaces." Professor Dennis Culhane, who teaches social policy at the University of Pennsylvania, has a different word for how laws like unlawful camping are often being enforced: intimidation. He's spent decades researching homelessness and assisted housing policy. In that time, Culhane has found that laws like the ones making camping illegal don't work. "They have to sleep somewhere. They're not going to just disappear," he told The Enquirer, referring to unhoused people. "It just points out the fact that we don't have a sufficient safety net for people who experience homelessness." John Miller of Northern Kentucky said he has experienced homelessness on and off for the past three years. The key to living on the streets? "Don't be noticeable," he said, and that means something different since the new law passed. He used to camp with a group of guys he knows. Now, he's able to sometimes snag a few hours of sleep in a stairwell or entryway. Police have caught him a few times. They usually just verify his identification, ensure he doesn't have any warrants, and let him go with a warning about unlawful camping, Miller said. Not everyone is as fortunate. Last summer, a man was ticketed for sleeping under a staircase at a shopping center in Highland Heights, court records show. It was the second time police were called about the man in a week. An officer issued him a $25 fine. After fees, the man owed $180. He didn't pay it. Instead, he eventually served about two days in jail where he accrued jail fine credits. That means for every day he spent in custody, money was credited toward his fines. On average, it costs about $128 per day to house someone at the Campbell County Jail, a public records request revealed. After fees and the cost of incarceration, that $25 ticket cost taxpayers at least $410. "They can't come up with $150. It's an excessive fine for someone who's destitute and has no income," Culhane said. Culhane added that putting financial burdens on unhoused people further puts them in a cycle of poverty, he said, possibly unable to find a job or housing because of their criminal conviction. But there are better policies that would help the public and unhoused people, advocates for those experiencing homelessness say. The Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky is the the only facility in the area that offers overnight stays year round to anyone who needs it. It's based in Covington, has 68 beds, and acts as a general resource hub for people in need. Last fiscal year, 1,428 of the people who sought services at the shelter were experiencing homelessness for the first time. More than half were able to find a new place to live within two weeks. Kim Webb, executive director at the ESNKY, said that's because the system in place at the shelter works. It gets people off the streets and living independently. More resources for emergency shelters and an investment into affordable housing are the two biggest things she said would help transition people into homes. "Without that, you're going to continue to see a growing unsheltered population," she said. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: New law uses 'intimidation' more than tickets to address homelessness
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
'At the breaking point': Deaths of two homeless people prompt calls for change
Two people have died from hypothermia in Jefferson County, sending shockwaves of grief through Louisville's homeless advocacy community and prompting calls for change. In a Tuesday press conference, Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed a man and a woman who may have been homeless "appeared to have died from hypothermia," adding them to the death toll from Kentucky's recent floods. At a separate press conference, Mayor Craig Greenberg did not address the deaths, but said the city's Homeless Service Division is continuing to provide services to unhoused residents while removing encampments. Greenberg said the number of Metro 311 calls about homeless camps has dropped 77% from 2023 to 2025, signaling progress in the city's efforts combat homelessness. 'Two years ago when I first became mayor, we had an urgent problem that was getting worse," Greenberg said. "Encampments were creating dangerous situations — dangerous for the people who were living on our streets and dangerous for the people using our sidewalks.' Local outreach advocates, however, say Greenberg's data is misleading, and camp clearings make life exceedingly difficult for those living on the streets — especially in extreme weather conditions. Although shelters are open to anyone during white flag operations, they aren't always a viable option for many living on the street. Christen 'Tiny' Herron, founder of The Forgotten Louisville, said people experiencing homelessness may have pets, struggle with substance abuse issues or fear losing their belongings — all things that contribute to the choice to stay outdoors, even in harsh weather. 'There's also the concern for the safety for people inside emergency shelters,' Herron said. 'That's the number one reason why people tell me they will not go into emergency shelter is because they feel unsafe.' David Smillie, executive director for Louisville Outreach for the Unsheltered, said the number of frostbite cases among the unhoused this year has been 'massive and dramatic,' something he believes is in part due to the enforcement of the Safer Kentucky Act, which requires officers to issue citations for street camping and camping paraphernalia. 'One of the main issues that we're seeing is that with the enforcement of House Bill 5, people are being pushed further and further into hiding to avoid citation and potential arrests, which makes it more and more difficult for the numerous grassroots outreach organizations to find them and to reach them and to provide them with necessary supplies to try and avoid injury, and in these incredibly tragic circumstances, death,' Smillie said. Herron said camp clearings not only force unhoused people into hiding but also cut them off from resources. 'We have a hub of houseless service resources in downtown Louisville, but we don't have that hub anywhere else in our city,' Herron said. 'So as we push people further and further and further out, the less services they're getting.' Tara Bassett, an advocate for the unhoused, said when camps are cleared, many people lose important documentation needed to receive services, like IDs or birth certificates, along with items that can save lives when temperatures drop, like tents, winter clothing and sleeping bags. 'Everything that's left behind and not guarded constantly is in constant peril of being swept,' Bassett said. 'So it's just a constant replenishing, and it's impossible to do mass serves to groups of people because nobody can stay in one place. They have to be moving constantly.' With weeks of frigid temperatures this year, outreach groups have kicked into overdrive to provide resources and services. In the wake of the hypothermia deaths, some feel their efforts are never enough. 'We're all at the breaking point,' Bassett said. With temperatures predicted to drop throughout the week, advocates are asking community members to consider supporting grassroots organizations and look out for unhoused residents. If someone is spotted sleeping outdoors in extreme conditions, attempt to wake them or call an outreach group for help, the advocates said. 'They're human beings with families,' Bassett said. 'They are somebody's son, somebody's daughter, somebody's mother, brother, uncle, grandparent.' Smillie said outreach groups are continuing to work together to provide services, despite the pain and frustration many are feeling after the loss of two individuals. 'We're all talking to each other,' Smille said. 'We're going try and cover as much ground geographically and utilize our resources as best we can to try and prevent this from happening again. I just fear that we will see more.' Reach reporter Keely Doll at kdoll@ This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Two homeless people die from hypothermia in Louisville
