As Illinois lawmakers consider a bill that would limit how cities can police homelessness, Evanston housing advocates say criminal penalties for sleeping or resting in public spaces do little to solve the crisis — and may make it worse. 

First introduced in January 2025 by State Rep. Kevin John Olickal (D-Skokie), House Bill 1429, or the Local Regulation of Unsheltered Homelessness Act, seeks to prohibit a local government unit from creating or enforcing policies or ordinances that impose fines or criminal penalties against people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. 

The bill would bar local governments from penalizing “life-sustaining activities” on public property so long as they do not physically block pedestrian or vehicle traffic in a manner that prevents a hazard to others. Activities listed in the bill include resting, sleeping, eating and storing personal belongings necessary for shelter. The bill also sets procedural guardrails around encampment removals.

Before clearing a site, a government entity would have to post a three-business-day notice and make a “good-faith effort” to connect individuals with transportation, social services and housing resources. Immediate removals without notice would be only allowed in specific circumstances like an imminent safety threat, a blocked roadway or a permitted event. Those reasons would have to be documented and maintained under the state’s Local Records Act. 

In April, the Illinois House Housing Committee approved the bill 11-4. It remains pending in the Illinois House after being rereferred to the House Rules Committee following several proposed amendments.

Evanston organizations such as Connections for the Homeless and Open Communities have expressed support by signing witness slips in favor of the bill.

Dominic Voz, the director of fair housing at Open Communities, said policies that penalize people for living outside can create long-term barriers to housing access. 

“When people are criminalized for sleeping outside, eating outside, existing outside, when they have no place to go, no resources, that creates a huge barrier to housing,” Voz said. “That really directly becomes a fair housing issue because they now oftentimes are in a spiral that leads to more involvement with the criminal legal system.” 

In the 2024 case Grants Pass v. Johnson, the United States Supreme Court ruled that local and government ordinances penalizing homeless people for camping on public land are constitutional.

Foluke Akanni, the housing policy organizer at Housing Action Illinois, said that following the decision, municipalities across Illinois began passing ordinances targeting homeless individuals. According to Akanni, the state’s recent bill was introduced in response to that trend, aiming to curb what she described as “quick fix” policies that penalize homelessness without addressing its root causes. 

“You’re actually just penalizing somebody and creating additional barriers for someone to actually have access to affordable housing,” Akanni said. 

Still, there has been pushback to the bill. Voz said Open Communities was “disappointed” by an April 15 editorial in the Chicago Tribune, where the editorial board wrote that “abandoning public spaces — such as parks — to lawless tent encampments isn’t fair to residents.”

The editorial argued that while the bill is “well intentioned,” it could make it harder for cities to manage encampments.

“We don’t want to see our communities prioritize people’s discomfort with looking at unsheltered homelessness over people’s human rights to dignity,” Voz said. 

Connections for the Homeless’ Director of Public Policy Christopher Martin said he commonly hears concerns similar to those expressed in the editorial, but he said the bill would not have “that kind of impact.”

Martin compared encampment clearings to “a game of chess,” where people are repeatedly moved from one place to another without addressing the underlying causes of homelessness. Without viable alternatives, he said, individuals are likely to return because they simply don’t have anywhere else to go.

Martin said addressing the crisis requires an “all-in approach,” which includes upzoning cities to allow for denser housing. 

“We need to be thinking about housing writ large, but really with a focus on low-income, affordable housing,” Martin said. “The state is oversubscribed on all the resources, from housing prevention, homeless prevention, to housing development resources, to rental assistance.” 

Although Connections for the Homeless has a homelessness prevention program, Martin said the program typically runs out of money at this time of year, and won’t receive more funds until September. 

Yet, there is a significant need for housing stability resources, as well as a need to “seriously invest” in affordable housing “at scale,” Martin said. 

Valerie Kahan, the owner of Art Makers Outpost and co-founder of Evanston Community Cares, said Evanston community organizations are often “slammed,” dealing with a shortage of housing and resources to assist unhoused populations. 

“Affordable housing is for people who can afford some rent. There are people who can’t afford any rent,” Kahan said. “To me, the most affordable way to help people is to resource them.” 

While providing these resources requires spending money up front, she said dispatching law enforcement to clear encampments also costs the city money. Instead, she suggested that the city could supply portable restrooms, fresh water and counselors to help with housing placement. 

Martin said there is “a long way to go” in providing the necessary affordable housing and support services to address the housing and homelessness crisis.

“A bill like this is trying to point out that this is not an individual failure,” Martin said. “This is a societal failure, and it is not something that can be solved through criminalization.” 

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