Delegate pushes bill to bar local criminalization of sleeping in vehicles, cites Grants Pass ruling

Delegate Josh Cole, sponsor of House Bill 2602, told the Affordable Housing Solutions landlord–tenant and real estate law work group on Sept. 8 that the measure would bar local ordinances that criminalize sleeping in legally parked vehicles and would require localities to make “reasonable efforts” to provide temporary shelter and authorize use of government property for temporary shelters where needed.

Cole said the bill also would restrict enforcement of public camping bans unless alternative shelter was “immediately available for a person who posed a direct threat to the community.” He framed the bill around what he described as a recent federal court development, saying, “back in 2024, the Grants Pass versus Johnson case… basically ruled and said that it’s no longer considered cruel and unusual punishment for people who are unhoused to be removed” from public spaces when shelter is not available. Cole said the…