Over the past year, police officers filed 460 unlawful camping charges in district court across 41 counties, up from 438 across 31 counties during the previous year, state data show.
Ashley Spalding, senior fellow at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, said the upward trend is especially concerning amid skyrocketing housing costs and cuts to safety net programs. She added that while first-offense unlawful camping does not result in arrest, it creates a series of challenges for people in vulnerable situations.
"A person who's cited has to go to court, and going to court comes with court costs. And then also with this violation, they can be fined," Spalding pointed out.
In year two of the ban, the majority of unlawful camping charges were for a first offense; around a dozen were for a second or subsequent offense; and a handful were for refusal to cease the offense. Jefferson and Fayette counties saw the most charges, but more rural counties — including Boyd, Franklin, Daviess and Bell — also saw an uptick.
Spalding added that criminalizing being unhoused not only increases involvement with the criminal legal system, but it also creates more barriers for community groups working to provide assistance to people who don’t know where they will sleep for the night or where they will get their next meal.
"It's harder for the service providers to be able to locate folks that they're trying to serve because people are afraid of being cited and arrested," Spalding explained.
The Trump administration is currently attempting to shift U.S. Housing and Urban Development funding away from housing subsidies and toward the treatment of substance use and mental health disorders.
