As More States Consider Harsher Penalties for Public Camping, One Man’s Arrest Shows What Enforcement Actually Looks Like
The recent felony arrest of a person experiencing homelessness in Tennessee has revived concerns about the real-life impacts that criminalizing homelessness can have.
On June 28, Joseph Williams, who has been chronically homeless in East Nashville, was arrested by police officers after he refused to leave a public park where he had lived for several years, NPR reported. Williams was charged with felony camping on public property, a charge made in 2022 when lawmakers increased penalties for public camping.
Tennessee is the only state in the U.S. where public camping is a felony. Williams spent nine days in jail before a judge dismissed the felony charges. After his release, he returned to the same park, evidence that even when a felony camping law is enforced to its fullest extent, it doesn’t accomplish what its supporters claim it will: getting people off the street and into stable housing.
The Think Tank Behind the Crackdown
Tennessee increased penalties for public camping after a sustained lobbying effort by the Cicero Institute, founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. Cicero has been pushing several states to increase penalties for public camping, arguing that the Housing First approach to ending homelessness has “failed.”…