LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of Kentucky lawmakers are trying to crack down on homelessness with the help of a new bill.
The legislation proposal that would ban street camping throughout the Commonwealth. It's a part of a 68 page bill called the Safer Kentucky Act.
"They want to clean the streets up, but they're going about it the wrong way. They're seeing a mess on the street, but they're not seeing the struggle," Louisvillian Joseph Halbert said.
Halbert has endured homelessness for last six years. He said he's made his way around Jefferson County living in tents for survival.
"It's kept me out of the elements, kept my stuff dry so I have somewhere to eat food, you know?” Halbert said.
But now the encampments he and many others depend on is under attack this legislative session.
Rep. Jason Nemes, a Republican who represents east Jefferson County and parts of Oldham and Shelby counties, supports the Safer Kentucky Act. He said the bill aims to improve public safety.
"It's trying to identify violent criminals, make it easy to identify them, easier to catch them, and we're putting them in jail longer,” Nemes said.” But the particular portions of the Safer Kentucky Act just say you're not allowed to camp in front of someone's home and property."
According to the proposal, people would be guilty of unlawful camping if they enter or remain on public or private space with the intention of sleeping there, even if they're resting inside their cars.
The first time a person refuses to leave they will be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which can lead to fines or jail time.
"To make more criminals where there is not a criminal, that's not going to solve anything. You're just putting a little more court costs and little more fines on them. That's all you doing," Halbert said.
However, Rep. Nemes said otherwise.
"It's not criminalizing homelessness. It's trying to say let’s put together a process to help these folks," he said.
Nemes said the act calls on local governments to create an area where people can camp and receive resources. But the bill doesn't layout how officials will get funding for the outdoor spaces.
It also plans to block funding for Housing First initiatives that provides permanent housing without "behavioral and rehabilitative requirements,” which Halbert says will only make matters worse.
"If you cut it, your snowballing the problem again. There's an epidemic going on and you're not going to cure it by hardening your heart," he said.
Lawmakers haven't officially filed the legislation yet. Nemes said nearly every Republican in Jefferson County has cosponsored it.
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