Candice Player (right) speaks out against the “criminalization of homelessness” at a press conference on November 18. Listening on the left are Republican Ismail Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) and Sen. Nikil Saval (Philadelphia). (Photo: Whitney Downard/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
Pennsylvania lawmakers and housing advocates are calling on the Commonwealth for a more compassionate response to homelessness after a monumental ruling that allows local governments to ban outdoor sleeping even if there are no shelter beds available.
2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision – Grants Pass v. Johnson – triggered a wave of proposals across the country that criminalized camping, sleeping, and storing personal property on certain public lands. Supporters say such actions essentially criminalize homelessness when people have no other choice.
“Instead of working to keep their citizens safe and stable, governments across the country have doubled down on punitive measures that would turn homelessness and poverty into crimes punishable by prison time,” said Sen. Nikil Saval (R-Philadelphia). “Study after study shows that the criminalization of homelessness is cruel, that it constitutes a gross misuse of public resources, and that it contributes to exacerbating the crisis it purports to combat.”
Local government authorities sometimes claim fines and prison time solution to the growing number of homeless people, which includes, among others, over 12,000 Pennsylvanians “On any given day,” according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
House and Senate Democrats condemn US Supreme Court ruling on homelessness
Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) urged elected leaders to reprioritize their spending from prisons to affordable housing, putting “human interests above business or political interests.”
“The actual evidence shows that municipalities that treat people as problems rather than as human beings end up sending their people to municipalities where there is shelter, where there is housing and where there is compassion,” Smith-Wade-El said. “I want to make your streets safer, give more of our neighbors a home, and save you the money you currently spend on incarceration and law enforcement.”
Saval said these potential savings could be used to gain Republican support in the GOP-controlled Senate for bills sponsored by him and Smith-Wade-El.
Both proposals codify Pennsylvania’s “Shelter First” approach to homelessness, making it more hard for the federal government to move away from such policies.
More about bills
Savala Senate Bill 1089 and Smith-Wade-El’s House Bill 2028 the legislation would require municipalities to provide “adequate” indoor spaces for people experiencing homelessness before a government body could enforce outdoor sleeping bans.
“Adequate” for the purposes of the bill means that the shelter must:
- Stay available indefinitely, without daily reapplication
- Be available for free
- Include disabilities
- Accept pets
- Provide accommodation for partners, including unmarried people, as well as family members and other supporters
- Can accommodate personal property
Such requirements are crucial, Smith-Wade-El said, because “We often provide homeless people with housing that we would never consider ourselves.”
“Many people would be shocked to learn how many people wake up in the morning in a homeless shelter, go to work full time… and then come back at night to sleep in the shelter,” Smith-Wade-El said.
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Prior to his election to the House of Representatives, Smith-Wade-El served on the Lancaster City Council after working with local nonprofit organizations, including the Lancaster County Coalition on Homelessness.
He said that in his home county, law enforcement moved encampments from one location to another, “playing hot potato with people’s lives.” Such actions “will no longer be an acceptable approach,” he said.
Candice Player, vice president of Philadelphia’s Project HOME, said her organization has “been on the front lines in the fight against homelessness for decades.” That court decision, she said, “has unleashed a wave of legislation that criminalizes basic survival activities.”
“But let’s be clear: The Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision is not a mandate, it is a choice,” Player said. “Here in the Commonwealth, we have the power and responsibility to take a stand.”
Player highlighted federal actions that represent a shift in the national approach to ending homelessness, such as the recent one cuts to constant housing programs and an executive order from the Trump administration making it easier to remove homeless people from the streets.
“The federal upheaval underscores how important leadership in Harrisburg will be in the coming months; Pennsylvania cannot wait for federal solutions,” Player said.
Lack of housing exacerbates existing mental and physical health problems, acting as a barrier to addiction treatment or other counseling. Player said adding criminal penalties “plugs people into a cycle of punishment, fines and incarceration rather than helping them find stability.”
Under the law, the state’s attorney general will have the authority to bring a civil lawsuit. Smith-Wade-El also called for additional investment in the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, in addition to rental assistance and continued support for home repair programming.
The Smith-Wade-El bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee last week, while Saval’s bill was sent to its Senate counterpart on Monday. Neither has been scheduled for a committee hearing yet.
