Service providers are celebrating after a bill to restrict the locations of homeless shelters in Oklahoma failed. But they are nervous about a growing trend of legislation that criminalizes homelessness.
Senate Bill 484, authored by Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman, would have banned homeless shelters within 3,000 feet of any school or school property in cities with fewer than 300,000 residents. The only cities that would not have been affected by the bill are Oklahoma City and Tulsa, which have populations greater than 300,000. The bill included exemptions for previously existing shelters, youth and domestic violence shelters and shelters operated in places of worship. An earlier version of the bill would have banned most Oklahoma cities from providing homeless services altogether.
“I don’t think that the bill failing in committee necessarily means that the state legislature is more friendly to people who are homeless,” said April Doshier, executive director of the nonprofit Food and Shelter. “I firmly believe we’re going to continue to see more pieces of legislation come out that are moving to criminalize homelessness and make it more difficult for people who are homeless to get out of that situation. So we will just have to continue our advocacy efforts and hope that whatever comes up next that we can advocate, rally our communities and defeat those bills as well.”…