A pair of bills moving through the Indiana General Assembly could criminalize street homelessness, raising concerns from local service providers about enforcement, jail overcrowding and the lack of shelter capacity.
Proponents, however, say large homeless encampments pose public safety and health problems, and the bill gives flexibility to law enforcement and social service agencies.
Senate Bill 285, titled Housing Matters, and House Bill 1431, titled Street Camping, would prohibit people from camping or sleeping on state-owned land unless authorized.
SB 285, authored by state Sens. Cyndi Carrasco and Eric Koch, was proposed on Jan. 12 and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 15. Koch represents Senate District 44, which includes the southeast corner of Monroe County.
Koch was unavailable for comment.
If enacted, SB 285 would make unauthorized public camping a Class C misdemeanor. It would also prohibit local policies limiting enforcement and allow citizens to sue police if it isn’t enforced. It would also require local police to report street-camping arrests to the state.
Executive Director of Beacon Forrest Gilmore criticized the bill, calling it a “classic example of fear and ideology over common sense.”
“We simply don't have enough shelter in our state to house everyone who's street homeless,” Gilmore said. “So we're basically saying, ‘Let's arrest people for not being able to access a shelter,’ knowing that everyone can't access a shelter.”
According to the 2025 Point-in-Time count, 305 people in Monroe County are experiencing homelessness. Gilmore said about a third of those are unsheltered and would be directly affected by the bill.
“Their lives are already at great risk just dealing with things like the weather and surviving every day,” Gilmore said. “Adding on top of that now, you're a criminal for doing it. It just creates a whole other level of stigma, threat, anxiety and fear that they'll be experiencing.”
Gilmore emphasized that the issue extends far beyond Bloomington or Monroe County.
“This is a statewide problem,” Gilmore said. “It’s countywide. It’s each county's problem, too, that the vast majority of our counties have zero shelter for single adults. That's a big part of the issue and has always been a big part of the issue.”
He argued the bill shifts focus away from long-term solutions.
“There are solutions to this problem, but we actually have to invest in them,” Gilmore said. “We have to invest in mental health, hospitalization and far more. We have to invest in housing and the support that people need to stay housed far more than we're doing.”
Amendments to the bill include options for diversion, allowing law enforcement to connect people experiencing homelessness to resources rather than jailing them.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson said the amendments have softened the bill’s impact and improved flexibility for law enforcement and service providers.
“What has been billed as sort of illegalizing homelessness, now, with the amendments that are being brought forward, it offers options for law enforcement and providers to, instead of filing misdemeanor charges, provide housing, services, et cetera,” Thomson said. “I actually think this bill has improved tremendously.”
The bill includes a 48-hour window for localities to respond to reports of street homelessness. Bloomington currently operates under a 30-day policy.
“We have found that if we can have 30 days, we can get the resource providers there, and we can find alternatives to camping,” Thomson said. “Forty-eight hours, it's really tough on our providers. But in the end, if everyone is following this, we shouldn't have large encampments forming.”
Thomson said large outdoor encampments pose public health and safety concerns, and said the bill gives local governments more authority to respond. Still, she said enforcement alone will not solve homelessness.
“I think the important thing about this bill is that if it passes, it should be seen only as a starting point,” Thomson said. “It needs to be followed next year with funding for mental health and recovery services and for housing. Next year is the budget session where we can seek funding. What I've asked for is at least verbal commitment on the floor that funding is going to follow.”
