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Advocates and lawmakers push bill to end criminal penalties for homelessness
Summary
Witnesses, elected officials and service providers urged the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government to report favorably on legislation that would bar cities and towns from fining or jailing people solely for sleeping, camping or trespassing when they have no shelter alternatives.
Lawmakers and service providers told a joint legislative committee Thursday they support House Bill 2261, which would bar cities and towns from imposing fines, tickets or criminal sanctions on people who sleep, camp or take shelter on public property when no alternative shelter is available.
The bill would not provide housing itself, witnesses emphasized; it would remove municipal penalties that advocates say punish people for lacking shelter. "Criminalizing homelessness did not improve either public safety or public health and indeed exacerbated both mental and medical conditions," Representative Lisa Fields said, citing a public health…
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