Missouri Criminalizes Sleeping Outside

A Missouri law passed late last month bans outdoor sleeping on state land, which critics say effectively criminalizes homelessness. According to an article by Kacen Bayless and Anna Spoerre in The Kansas City Star, “Public protests have called for Kansas City to find better, long-term solutions to housing the city’s approximate 2,000 people without homes.” The authors add that “The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, also requires local governments to financially support services like mental health treatments and short-term housing.”

The article continues, “While it passed both chambers of the Missouri legislature in late May, some lawmakers voiced concern about whether arresting those who are unhoused is inhumane.” Empower Missouri’s Sarah Owsley said similar bans have failed to reduce the number of unhoused people sleeping on public streets. “Street sleeping bans also increase the likelihood that unsheltered individuals move deeper into the woods or to more secluded areas that can present more dangerous situations for them, she said.”

The bill is based on similar legislation passed in Austin, Texas, where the city issued 130 citations within the first six months. And while Missouri legislators say the law can help guide people to shelters, the article points out that “Kansas City’s shelters are often full, and many unhoused residents have complained of being turned away.”

The bill also “would penalize local governments with a per capita homelessness rate higher than the state average by prohibiting them from receiving state funding until they’ve lowered it,” threatening already limited funding. Marqueia Watson, executive director of Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, called the bill counterproductive to current efforts to reduce homelessness, saying that “by requiring social workers to do anything remotely related to policing homeless people sleeping on state land will break trust and ultimately make it more difficult to get people help.”