Unhoused & homeless (Credit: LevittownNow file photo)
Lawmakers and housing advocates in Pennsylvania are calling on the commonwealth to take a more compassionate response to homelessness on the heels of a monumental ruling that allows local government to ban outdoor sleeping even if there are no shelter beds available.
The 2024 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court — Grants Pass v. Johnson — sparked a wave of proposals nationwide that penalized camping, sleeping and storing personal property on certain public land. Such actions essentially criminalized homelessness, advocates said, when people have no other options.
“Instead of working to create safety and stability for their people, governments across the country have doubled down on punitive measures that would turn homelessness and poverty into crimes punishable by jail,” said Sen. Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia). “Study after study shows that the criminalization of homelessness is cruel; that it is a gross misuse of public resources; and that it serves to exacerbate the crisis it professes to combat.”
Municipalities sometimes argue that the fines and jail time are a solution to the growing number of homeless people, which includes over 12,000 Pennsylvanians “on any given day,” according to the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) urged elected leaders to reprioritize their expenses from prisons to affordable housing, putting “human interest before business or political interests.”
“What the actual evidence shows is that municipalities who treat people like problems, instead of like human beings, end up sending their people to municipalities where there is shelter, where there is housing and where there is compassion,” said Smith-Wade-El. “I want to make your streets safer, give more of our neighbors a home and save you money that you’re currently pouring into prisons and enforcement.”
Those potential savings are what Saval said could be used to win Republican support in the GOP-controlled Senate for companion bills sponsored by himself and Smith-Wade-El.
The two proposals codify a “Shelter First” approach to homelessness in Pennsylvania, bucking a shift from the federal government away from such policies.
More on the bills
Saval’s Senate Bill 1089 and Smith-Wade-El’s House Bill 2028 legislation would require municipalities to provide “adequate” indoor spaces for people experiencing homelessness before that government body could enforce outdoor sleeping bans.
“Adequate,” as defined in the bill, means a shelter must:
Such requirements were important, said Smith-Wade-El, because, “Oftentimes, we assign folks who are unhoused to a sort of housing we would never consider for ourselves.”
“Many people would be shocked to know the number of people who wake up in the morning at a shelter for the unhoused, go work a full-time job … and then come back at night to sleep in the shelter,” said Smith-Wade-El.
Prior to his election to the state House, Smith-Wade-El served on Lancaster City Council after working with area nonprofits, including the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition.
In his home county, he said law enforcement had pushed encampments from one location to another, “playing hot potato with human lives.” Such actions “will no longer be an acceptable approach,” he said.
Candice Player, a vice president with Philadelphia’s Project HOME, said her organization had been “on the frontlines fighting homelessness” for decades. That court decision, she said, “unleashed a wave of legislation … that criminalizes basic survival activities.”
“But let’s be clear: the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass isn’t a mandate, it’s a choice,” said Player. “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 end homelessness, such as recent cuts to permanent housing programs and a Trump administration executive order making it easier to remove homeless people from the streets.
“The upheaval at the federal level underscores how essential leadership in Harrisburg will be in the months ahead; Pennsylvania cannot wait for federal solutions,” said Player.
Being unhoused compounds existing mental and physical health issues, acting as a barrier for addiction treatment or other counseling. Player said that adding criminal penalties “traps people in a cycle of citations, fines and incarceration, instead of helping them find stability.”
Under the legislation, the state attorney general will have the authority to bring a civil action. Smith-Wade-El also called for additional investments into the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency alongside rental assistance and ongoing support for home repair programming.
Smith-Wade-El’s bill was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee last week, while Saval’s measure was sent to its Senate counterpart on Monday. Neither is yet scheduled for a committee hearing.
