February 20, 2025
Nate Crippes / Public Affairs Supervising Attorney
ncrippes@disabilitylawcenter.org
Andrew Riggle / Public Policy Advocate
ariggle@disabilitylawcenter.org
(801) 363-1347 / (800) 662-9080
disabilitylawcenter.org
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), nearly one in three unhoused individuals experience chronic homelessness, meaning they have experienced homelessness for extended periods of time and have a disability[i]. In Salt Lake County’s 2023 Point-in-Time count, 32.8% of individuals experiencing homelessness were identified as being chronically homeless.[ii] These are likely underestimates, as not all disabled people who are unhoused experience “chronic” patterns of homelessness or meet HUD’s definition of disability, which is more restrictive than that used in the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, or the Fair Housing Amendments Act, among other anti-discrimination statutes.[iii]
Given this background, the Disability Law Center has concerns with several bills impacting this population. HB 329 says an offense committed within 300 feet of a homeless shelter must be charged at least one degree above the minimum. HB 465 requires stepped-up enforcement of anti-camping ordinances in cities of the 1st class. HB 312 classifies a person charged with 19 or convicted in 9 separate misdemeanor cases over 3 years as a habitual offender perhaps subject to a harsher sentencing guideline. The crimes some homeless persons commit – such as loitering, panhandling, trespassing, camping, and petty theft – are often a consequence of being unhoused.
Utah has a legally recognizable duty to its disabled unhoused residents. Under federal statutes including Title II of the ADA, the state has an affirmative obligation to avoid discrimination in the provision of its services, programs and activities, including its encampment clearing and management programs. The clearing of an encampment constitutes a program under the ADA. A California case explains: “the ADA’s prohibition on discrimination in public programs ‘brings within its scope anything a public entity does,’” including the way government entities enforce their laws.[iv] Overbroad and aggressive enforcement fails to appreciate or address these affirmative duties, which include a duty to provide reasonable modifications to the way a public entity’s laws are applied and enforced; a duty to provide disabled people “equal opportunity” to comply with orders and avoid citation, arrest, or other harm; and an obligation to avoid methods of administration that discriminate against or unduly burden disabled people.
On top of this, research shows criminalization does not alleviate homelessness but rather perpetuates a cycle of homelessness and incarceration. An examination of move-along orders in the wake of a camping ban in Denver likewise showed criminalizing homelessness was
“ineffective at reducing street homelessness.”[v] And fines worsen the financial circumstances of unhoused people by creating financial barriers to getting back on their feet.[vi] Indeed, citations create collateral consequences that last long after the initial policing event and lock people with mental health disabilities out of the mainstream more permanently. Criminal records create barriers to employment, housing, public benefits, and social support systems. Criminalization has the effect of punishing unhoused people for existing in the community when they have no alternative.
Instead, Connecticut service providers work directly with prosecutors to ensure homeless people in their communities are not prosecuted for minor offenses.[vii] This reduces the likelihood police and other system officials will attempt to arrest, harass, or institutionalize unhoused people, and may reduce interactions between police and people experiencing homelessness altogether.
Incarceration may also precipitate homelessness by disrupting family and community contacts and exacerbate existing health conditions. Incarcerated people also face issues accessing long-term medications. In fact, 26% to 42% of inmates who were taking prescription medication before they were incarcerated stopped once they were imprisoned.[viii] Those with mental illness face an even greater barrier—40% to 50% of inmates who took medication for mental health at the time of incarceration did not receive medication in prison.[ix] Beyond medication, mental healthcare resources are lacking. A substantial portion of the prison population does not receive treatment for mental health conditions.[x] This treatment discontinuity potentially affects recidivism and health care costs on release. Moreover, between 7% and 25% of inmates are not seen by medical personnel even after suffering a serious injury.[xi]
Incarcerated people are disproportionately affected by health problems that persist for years after release. One study found that among inmates with a persistent medical problem, 13.9% of federal inmates, 20.1% of state inmates, and 68.4% of local jail inmates had received no medical examination since incarceration.[xii] Without consistent access to healthcare while incarcerated or upon release, people with mental and physical disabilities face compounding barriers to navigating necessary social services.
Rather than use criminal and civil penalties to punish unhoused residents, these mismatches must be addressed by increasing the availability of emergency and permanent housing and services. The provision of housing and services successfully reduces homelessness. In fact, one study found an average cost savings on emergency services of $31,545 per person housed over the course of two years.[xiii] Another showed housing could cost $23,000 less per consumer annually than a shelter program.[xiv] A third report reviewing twenty-six studies found housing programs decreased homelessness by 88 percent and improved housing stability by 41 percent compared to programs which require a person to undergo psychiatric treatment and be substance free first.[xv] Simply put, evidence of the effectiveness of providing housing and services to reduce homelessness spans decades.
Utah’s experience underscores the effectiveness of utilizing these principles. The state acknowledged that “permanent housing projects with supportive services are highly effective in keeping the most vulnerable in housing.”[xvi] Its 2024 Annual Data Dashboard on Homelessness shows 93% of people housed by long-term housing projects maintained their housing or obtained permanent housing outside the project.
The DLC is concerned these bills try to solve homelessness simply by further criminalizing it, rather than addressing the root cause: a severe shortage of deeply affordable and physically accessible housing. Thank you for your time and considering our perspective.
[i] Tanya de Sousa et al., U.S. Dep’t Hous. & Urban Dev., The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress 26 (Dec. 2023)
[ii] End Utah Homelessness Salt Lake Valley, Salt Lake County CoC Point-In-Time (PIT) Count Summary (2023), https://endutahhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Salt-Lake-County-CoC-Point-In-Time-PIT-Count-Summary.pdf.
[iii] A 2018 survey of unhoused people found that 78% of respondents reported having mental health conditions (Jess Hallam, Mental Health Disabilities and the Criminalization of Houselessness: Challenging Municipal Sit-Lie Ordinances as Disparate Impact Discrimination Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 45 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 632, 643 (2022)). 44.7% of the individuals counted in Salt Lake County’s 2023 Point-In-Time Count reported having a mental illness (See supra note 2). Research also indicates approximately 30-40% of people experiencing homelessness have a cognitive impairment, including Autism and/or Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, and become unhoused later in life, most often due to death of the family caregiver (Michael Brown & Edward McCann, Homelessness and people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review of the International Research Evidence, 34 Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 390–401 (2020)). Additionally, many unhoused people with disabilities are older adults, which is one of the fastest growing age groups among people experiencing homelessness. older adults who are unhoused have a higher prevalence and severity of memory loss, falls, difficulty performing daily tasks, cognitive impairments, functional impairments, and higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders. As compared to younger adults who are unhoused, those over 50 years of age have higher rates of chronic illnesses, cognitive impairments, high blood pressure, arthritis, and functional disability (Kathryn A. Henderson et al., Addressing Homelessness Among Older Adults: Final Report 4 (2023)).
[iv] Where Do We Go Berkeley v. California Department of Transportation, 32 F.4th 852, 861 (9th Cir. 2022).
[v] Chris Herring et al., Pervasive Penalty: How the Criminalization of Poverty Perpetuates Homelessness, 67 Soc. Problems 131 (2019).
[vi] Id.
[vii] Nat’l Alliance to End Homelessness, Alternatives to Criminalization (2021), https://endhomelessness.org/blog/alternatives-to-criminalization/.
[viii] Andrew Wilper, et al., The Health and Health Care of US Prisoners: Results of a Nationwide Survey, 99 Am. J. Pub. Health 666, 669 (2009), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2661478/pdf/666.pdf.
[ix] Id.
[x] Jennifer M. Reingle Gonzalez and Nadine M. Connell, Mental Health of Prisoners: Identifying Barriers to Mental Health Treatment and Medication Continuity, 104 Am. J. Pub. Health 2328 (2014).
[xi] See supra note 5.
[xii] Id.
[xiii] Nat’l Alliance to End Homelessness, Rapid Re-Housing Works, https://endhomelessness.org/rapid-re-housing-works/.
[xiv] Id.
[xv] Yinan Peng et al., Permanent Supportive Housing with Housing First to Reduce Homelessness and Promote Health among Homeless Populations with Disability: A Community Guide Systematic Review, 26(5) J. Pub. Health Mgmt. Prac. 404, 404–11 (2020).
[xvi] Utah Office of Homeless Services, Annual Report Dashboard on Homelessness: Key Findings (2024).