Lawmakers are failing those who need the most help. That’s what advocates and people in recovery said as they gathered at the Statehouse Thursday. They rallied against legislation to criminalize homelessness and another bill restricting needle exchange programs headed to the governor’s desk.
The group of people who have either been in recovery or experienced homelessness gathered with the advocacy group Hoosier Action.
They chanted ‘nothing about us without us’ and spoke to their personal experiences and how state legislation is likely going to make the lives of vulnerable Hoosiers more difficult.
Tracy Skaggs leads Project Recovery and has long struggled with an opioid use disorder. She held up photos of people who had died due to overdose.
“Policies created without us do not protect us, they punish us,” she said. “They cost lives.”
Misty Carlisle said legislation penalizing homeless people for camping in public places will only make things harder.
“You cannot incarcerate someone into stability, you cannot shame someone into sobriety, you cannot criminalize someone into housing,” she said.
Advocates repeatedly asked for a seat at the table, arguing that legislation impacting them is often made by people who don’t understand their experiences.
The event came just hours ahead of the Indiana Senate’s final passage of a bill that criminalizes homelessness by making it a Class C misdemeanor for knowingly camping or sleeping in public areas. Bill sponsors have argued the bill is a compassionate effort to get people off the streets through interactions with law enforcement.
A day earlier, lawmakers extended the state’s needle exchange program with several caveats that advocates say will only make it harder for people struggling to get help. Those changes include a one-to-one needle exchange, and require people to show IDs in order to participate in the program.
The extension of the syringe program also fell from the original extension of ten years to just five.
SB 285 author Cyndi Carrasco (R-Indianapolis) has repeatedly said her bill does not criminalize homelessness, but both advocates and law enforcement who testified on the measure disagreed.
Carrasco has argued that the bill is about linking people to resources through a law enforcement officer, breaking up camps, and keeping people from dying on the street.
“I do believe that this bill will save lives,” Carrasco said before the final vote on Thursday.
The bill allows law enforcement to divert people into shelters or other resources, but advocates said there are oftentimes no resources or shelters available , particularly in more rural counties. The bill does not offer any added supportive services.
Because of that, law enforcement officials have testified that the bill is likely to lead to overcrowding in their jails.
Lonnie Randolph (D-East Chicago) said that homeless people need help, not jail.
“That’s not the answer. The answer is helping these homeless people by providing the things they need like food, shelter, and a job,” he said.
Outside the statehouse chambers, local housing organizations reacted with disappointment to news of the bill's passage.
Chelsea Haring-Cozzi is the CEO of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention in Indianapolis.
“We heard people support programming in lieu of citation, so let's put money where our mouths are and make sure we’re investing in those solutions,” she said. “We still firmly believe that the off-ramp to the justice system is not the right off-ramp.”
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org