Beacon, a Bloomington homeless shelter, has to turn people away. Its overnight shelter, Friend’s Place, is full every night. And Wheeler Mission is operating close to capacity.
Several of Bloomington’s homeless shelters are full or close to full, Bloomington’s Homelessness Response Coordinator Brian Giffen said.
“We definitely don’t have the shelter capacity for everyone that’s living on the street,” Giffen said.
But Senate Bill 285 would make it a Class C misdemeanor for people to camp or sleep on public land.
Those who violate the bill would first receive a warning. If they have already received one and are still camping within 300 feet of where the warning was issued after two days, they could be jailed for up to 60 days and fined up to $500.
The bill also bars cities and counties from creating policies that would prevent the enforcement of the law and allows residents to sue if such a policy is created.
One of the bill’s authors, Sen. Cyndi Carrasco, R-Indianapolis, said at the bill’s third reading Jan. 28 that she authored it to address chronic homelessness and help some of the most vulnerable individuals.
“We have a responsibility to do something to help people who are living on streets in encampments that pose health and safety risks,” Carrasco said.
Carrasco said during the reading that the goal of the bill is not to criminalize homelessness, but rather allow intervention.
“The misdemeanor provision exists to create a moment where outreach, diversion and connection to services can occur,” Carrasco said. “And to move individuals towards a healthier and more stable life through a clear, multi-step process that prioritizes services before enforcement.”
A bill amendment last year would have similarly criminalized public sleeping, though it did not become law.
Now that the idea of criminalization has reemerged and passed the Indiana Senate on Jan. 28, some local leaders are concerned Monroe County would not be able to accommodate those who are living on the street in shelters.
According to a Point-in-Time Count report taken on one night in January 2025, 305 people were experiencing homelessness in Monroe County.
Beacon Executive Director Forrest Gilmore said there wasn’t enough shelter in the city and county to house everyone currently sleeping on the streets — a little over 100 people, he said.
Beacon’s overnight shelter is filled every night, he said.
“We know there are other, there are more that are seeking shelter, that we’re turning people away,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore said he is inherently opposed to the state criminalizing something without giving people an alternative. It’s a complicated problem from a funding standpoint, he said, but the simplest and most obvious solution to homelessness is investing in housing.
He said the state government is not substantively investing in homeless services, care and shelter, which he sees as the response to homelessness. Indiana uses Emergency Solutions Grant funding to give money to shelters and for transitional housing for the homeless.
A 2023-22 memo showed the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority allocated nearly $4 million to shelters around the state.
“I understand the challenges that people are talking about with street homelessness, especially with large camps, and the issues with those,” Gilmore said.
But he feels the solution of “trying to punish this out of existence” makes no sense.
Mary Morgan is executive director of Heading Home of South Central Indiana, a coalition looking to decrease homelessness and strengthen housing security.
She expressed concerns about the bill and the lack of funding for alternative treatments and services to homeless people.
“We need to be working to get people into housing, not to make it more difficult for them to just survive,” Morgan said.
When people have criminal records, she said, it’s much more difficult to secure housing because some apartment complexes may not accept them.
The city’s current policy, Giffen said, is to issue a 72-hour notice for tents that pop up on the sidewalk and a 30-day notice for larger encampments. Officers will try to connect with people camping on the streets and give them grace, he said, but some could be charged with trespassing.
The 48-hour notice the bill proposes, Giffen said, would not be enough time for the city to get people in larger encampments access to resources. The new bill could also impact the relationships law enforcement have built with Bloomington’s homeless community, Giffen said.
“That can break down a lot of the trust they’ve built,” Giffen said. “You know, they’re specialized officers. They wear different uniforms. People know them.”
The bill was referred to the House’s Committee on Courts and Criminal Code on Feb. 2. To move forward, the bill would need to move out of committee and be voted on by the entire House.
