02/05/2025
ACTION ALERT!!!
House Bill 1662 'State and Local Policies on Homelessness' is a dangerous & messy piece of legislation that, if passed, will devastate vulnerable Hoosiers and their communities across Indiana. We have the chance to kill the bill right now, but all of our work could be undone if the committee chairman allows a bill hearing.
We have been made aware that the chairman does plan to hear the bill soon.
The bill author Representative Michelle Davis (R-Greenwood) and House Government & Regulatory Reform Committee Chairman Representative Doug Miller (R-Elkhart) both know that this bill is too big and has many flaws, but they have been convinced by a billionaire-endowed, out-of-state organization called the Cicero Institute to give it a chance. We are URGING them to rethink this decision.
What This Bill Would Do:
Force local law enforcement in all cities & towns in Indiana to ticket and arrest homeless individuals simply for being outside in public for 'too long', thus creating debts and arrest records
Take away the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority's (IHCDA) state and federal funding to work on data-proven long term solutions like permanent supportive housing
Force IHCDA to instead redirect money towards short term 'solutions' like the creation of state funded encampments, which have been highly criticized in national news
Allow the State Attorney General, private citizens, and businesses to sue cities & towns for perceived insufficient enforcement of the bill
This bill must not be allowed to continue forward or be entertained in any way whatsoever. Please help us kill this bill by calling or emailing them today. You do not need to be a constituent to express your concerns on this matter.
Representative Michelle Davis, [email protected], (317) 232 - 9757
Representative Doug Miller, [email protected], (317) 234 - 9139
What You Should Say:
-Your name and your organization, if you represent one
-Ask to leave a message if the assistant answers
-Arresting and ticketing people who have no resources and nowhere to go only makes their problems worse
-We should not allow billionaires from out of state tell us how to address homelessness here in Indiana
-If they want to legislate on homelessness they should scrap this bill and spend the summer collaborating with real Hoosier experts on this issue
-Do not allow House Bill 1662 to move forward!!!
