Beacon, Inc., on South Walnut Street in Bloomington is Monroe County’s largest nonprofit housing provider.
As its executive director for the last 15 years, Forest Gilmore fights every day to help the community’s most vulnerable people.
Local lawmakers supported Gilmore in opposing SB-285, which bans camping on public property, but the majority at the statehouse rallied behind it.
“It was definitely something that we thought would reappear this year after it was defeated a year ago,” he said. “And to be honest, I'm not surprised it passed. Disappointed, but not surprised.”
People who camp on public property can face a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.
The bill’s author, Sen. Cyndi Carrasco (R-District 36) said it gives law enforcement another tool to employ and encourages people experiencing homelessness to seek supportive services.
“Yes, there is a Class C misdemeanor provision in there,” she said during the bill’s second reading. “Sometimes you need that type of tool in order to be able to make that connection for a certain population of people, my hope is that we don't use it, which is why there's so many built in safeguards in the bill.”
Carrasco said she wrote the bill because she could no longer continue to do nothing about Indiana’s homeless population.
“I've been waiting years and years and watching and supporting efforts to address this issue, and I shared the numbers, it's not getting better,” she said.
Gilmore, however, said the problem lies in the lack of supportive services, not that people don’t engage with what’s available.
“Right now, there is not enough shelter available for the number of people who are homeless,” he said. “Just our community doesn't have it. And that’s not just a problem in Monroe County.”
Gilmore argues the bill doesn’t address what he calls the “shelter gap.”
“It doesn't do anything to solve the shelter gap or the housing gap, it passes all the costs to dealing with this down to the city and the county, to the Sheriff’s department, to the police, local police departments,” he said.
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson said the city has already been operating under its own encampment policy, and in some cases has cleared out camps around the city.
For the past two years, Bloomington has used a 30-day notice process that deploys outreach workers and case managers before closing camps.
“What I had been really arguing for as I was tracking this bill was … if you're going to compel a local jurisdiction to make an arrest after a 48-hour warning, that if we have a procedure already in place that should supersede the law compelling us to make an arrest,” she said. “And unfortunately, that didn't happen.”
The city last counted 116 people sleeping outside or in cars.
“It's a number that we can meet with partnership from business community and nonprofits, and I think it's entirely doable. It's not doable by July 1,” she said. “And unfortunately, this bill did not come with any funding, right?”
Thomson said the city and county have been meeting to prepare for the law’s implementation.
“We know we can't arrest our way out of homelessness,” she said. “It’s just going to accumulate fines for people and create situations that are more complicated.”
The Monroe County jail already faces issues of overcrowding. The Sheriff’s office didn’t respond to a request for an interview about how it was preparing for the new law’s implementation, but in a statement wrote it is aware of the new law and will comply with the statute while continuing to approach situations with quote “professionalism, compassion and respect.”
The office says deputies are trained to prioritize safety and connect individuals with available resources whenever possible.
There are additional concerns from organizations throughout the rest of Indiana.
Helping Veterans and Families, or HVAF of Indiana, provides housing and services to veterans facing homelessness.
“The reality is that there are just not enough services for veterans and non-veterans who are experiencing homelessness in our communities,” said Emmy Hildebrand, CEO of HVAF Indiana.
She said in central Indiana, more than 95 percent of homeless veterans are already connected with a housing provider. They’re simply waiting for units to become available.
The bill includes certain protections, including one that prevents charges if no shelter beds are available in a five-mile radius.
But Hildebrand said that defense may not be easy to prove.
“I think they put the burden on proving that on the person experiencing homelessness,” she said. “And you know what we see here at HVA when a person is homeless, they're really worried about where I'm going to sleep tonight, how I'm going to eat and like how I'm going to survive.”
Back in Bloomington, Gilmore said years from now, he doesn’t expect this law to reduce homelessness. For him, the solution remains the same.
“It's certainly not going to help more people get housed. It's certainly not going to help more people get health care or recovery care,” he said. “People have to have some kind of stable, safe place to live and to heal.”
