Here in Louisiana, everybody deserves a safe place to live. Instead of focusing on proven solutions to homelessness, like deeply affordable housing, House Bill 211 by Rep. Debbie Villio criminalizes homelessness and punishes people who have no choice but to sleep outside, pushing them into treatment against their will and labor without pay.  

National groups, such as the National Homelessness Law Center, have called attention to this dangerous and cruel legislation that would create the crime of unauthorized public camping in Louisiana and establish severe penalties for that crime, including $500 fines and imprisonment for families that cannot access shelter, either temporary or permanent. 

This bill marks a new escalation in the rise of anti-homeless laws around the country. While we’ve seen laws that make it a crime to sleep outside in other states, the unprecedented focus on forced labor brings this bill into a new category of cruelty.  

HB 211 also creates a new homeless court program where a homeless person charged with any crime – sleeping outside or otherwise – could be coerced into participating in a treatment program under threat of jail time. 

By creating a two-tiered justice system, where people are punished differently for the same crime depending simply on whether or not they are homeless, this bill allows homeless people in Louisiana to be treated with less rights than people who live in housing. Because Louisiana does not have any protections from housing discrimination for people with criminal records, having any arrest or conviction makes it significantly harder to access the housing people need to get out of homelessness. 

This bill will cost parishes millions to trap some of Louisiana’s most vulnerable residents in an endless cycle of court fees, fines, convictions, and mandated programs—none of which will solve homelessness and all of which will delay and permanently impede individuals’ future access to housing. 

At Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, we are grateful to work alongside advocates, direct service providers, and individuals with lived experiences who have spoken out against this bill and warned residents of its impacts, but there is still more work to be done. House Bill 211 passed in the Senate Judiciary C committee meeting on Tuesday, April 28th and will soon move to the Senate floor for its last and final hearing. Click the link below to contact your Senator in opposition. Don’t let Louisiana criminalize homelessness.