Joe has been homeless off and on for years, too many for him to remember. A lot of that time has been spent in Memphis.

“I couldn’t pay the rent (the first time I became homeless),” he said. “I’m having a tough time trying to find housing. Now you’ve got to have all these forms of ID or paperwork to get housing. Then you got to be able to afford the rent too.”

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While he hasn’t had too many negative interactions with police, he is worried about possibly receiving a felony at this stage of his life - something that will soon affect the state’s homeless population under new legislation.

The expansion of the Equal Access to Public Property Act of 2012, which passed into law without Gov. Bill Lee’s signature, will take effect July 1. The bill will make it a felony to camp on local public property, including parks, punishable by up to six years in prison. Any arrest would have to be made after a 24-hour warning.

The law expands an existing law that makes it a felony to camp in state parks.

Joe, not his real name, is afraid to identify himself, worrying it could hurt his chances of getting assistance. He’s sitting and waiting for the bus with a bag of belongings, on his way to a mission.

“I sleep out on the streets sometimes,” he said. “Try to stay at the mission, but a lot of the times, they’re full up. Can’t just lay down anywhere. They’ll trespass you.”

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What’s off limits

The expansion also makes it a misdemeanor to camp under an overpass or bridge, as well as on the shoulder, berm or right-of-way of a state or interstate highway. The first notice requires a warning, but the misdemeanor charges come with a fine of $50 and 20 to 40 hours of community service. This is the second expansion to the bill, which first made it a felony to camp on state property in response to the People’s Plaza protest in Nashville during summer 2020.

The sponsors of those bills in the House and Senate were Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, respectively.

Bailey did not return a request for comment, but Williams defended the bill, citing health and safety concerns, even saying it doesn’t necessarily mean people can’t sleep on public property.

“We extended the current law to apply to local government property,” Williams said. “It only applies to camping. It doesn’t prevent someone from being there, or even sleeping there, they just can’t build a shelter there.”

Gov. Lee wrote a letter to House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally on his decision to allow the bill to take effect without his signature citing his concern for “unintended consequences, operational costs, and inconsistent enforcement,” and saying, “we should actively monitor the effects of this legislation.” Some advocates have voiced concern about the bill due to the local enforcement of the legislation, citing that a felony on someone’s record would make it harder for people to get out of being homeless.

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“This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s not a Black and white issue, it’s not about gender, this is about basic human decency and how you treat your fellow man.”

G. A. Hardaway
Tennessee State Representative 

Not one case

Williams doesn’t anticipate any unintended consequences but did say he had not seen the letter.

“We’ve had 10 years of the law on the books for state property, and the administrative office of the courts stated that in the 10 years of the previous law, there had not been one cited case as it relates to those statute changes, so there would be no unintended consequences,” Williams said. “We have the model of the law. Obviously, it’s not been implemented, so no one’s made any suggested edits.

“Obviously, we felt like that the state statute was a good one, and if for some reason the extension of it to the local level is problematic, we would be glad to look at a revision if it made sense, but as of now, I’m unaware of any changes that someone has suggested, governor or otherwise.”

Representative G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, said the bill comes at the worst time for citizens as the nation grapples with rising inflation costs.

“That whole chain of events that resulted in the legislation and the bill, sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that we’re living in America,” Hardaway said. “I can’t believe that any government would be so heartless, not just to criminalize, but felon-ize homelessness. If you don’t have somewhere to lay your head except for public property, you could be arrested and charged with a felony.

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“The logic behind it was so convoluted. ‘This is the way we get them and help them.’ What the heck does that mean? We’re talking about homelessness at a time where more people are going to be homeless than ever before.”

High poverty rate

Memphis has a poverty rate of 24.9% and a child poverty rate of 39.6%, according to the 2021 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet produced by University of Memphis professor Elena Delavega and Gregory Blumenthal of GMBS Consulting, which analyzes federal data for the Memphis area. The poorest neighborhoods identified were the 38126 and 38127 ZIP codes, or the New Pathways and Frayser neighborhoods, respectively.

On top of the poverty rate increasing, racial disparities in income continue in the area, with the median income for Black residents of Shelby County being lower than the national average at $38,439 and $43,674, respectively.

Comparatively, the United States poverty rate is 12.8%, and as the country deals with the heightened rise of inflation and housing costs inflated by the pandemic, the hits are being felt locally among the community.

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“This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s not a Black and white issue, it’s not about gender, this is about basic human decency and how you treat your fellow man,” Hardaway said. “If you close your sleeping bag, is that a shelter? If you cover yourself in canvas to keep the rain off you, are you sheltered at that point? I don’t recall seeing a legal definition in the legislature of shelter, so anything could be on the table.

“But if we have to search and parse words to that degree, then we know it’s wrong.”

Basic needs

Hardaway said there are several things that need to happen to address homelessness, not just building shelter.

He said there’s a need to ensure dollars are flowing into the county to address inequity in housing, education and programs. As the state puts more issues to a local level, Hardaway said it’s important for counties to look at addressing issues like this legislation.

“Our time and effort need to be put into giving our population one of the most basic needs after food, and that’s shelter,” Hardaway said. “We’re not only talking about shelter. But children being homeless, we know it affects their ability to achieve academically. When you look at the mental state of families, they’re in better shape if they’re in their own home as opposed from moving places or shelters.

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“We know there are so many positives that come with home ownership, and it doesn’t seem to make our list of to-dos. Instead, we keep looking for those headline-grabbing, copycat legislation pieces.”

The Dorothy Day House serves as a family transitional housing model, not an emergency housing model.

“We’re getting 30 calls a week from families who are looking for shelter,” said Sister Maureen Griner of the Dorothy Day House Memphis. “Many of them are in abandoned apartments or in their car. We’re taking as many families as we can from whatever circumstances.”

Like many missions or shelters, the Dorothy Day House requires an interview process, background check, drug test and now proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The houses for families are furnished fully through donations.

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Transitional homes fill up

“We’ve always gotten a lot of phone calls. It’s not unusual to get seven a day, but it has increased,” Griner said. “We tend to take a lot of people who fall through the cracks that can’t be taken at other shelters for some reason. It could be something as simple as they don’t have a child’s birth certificate or a state ID, or they don’t want to go to a shelter where they’ll be separated from their teenage boys.”

“It’s hard to find a shelter that will take fathers with children. We get a lot of people who just can’t find help anywhere else.”

Griner said most of the calls they’ve been receiving aren’t related to the legislation. Instead, most are because of the rising cost of housing and inflation, with many staying in cars during the sweltering summer heat.

“Everyone’s struggling trying to get ahead of everything,” Griner said. “I suspect most aren’t even aware of the legislation. I really don’t think it’ll hit the fan until it goes into effect.

“Most homeless people are living day-to-day, minute-to-minute. Anything to do with legislation is so far out of their concern that it hasn’t quite hit yet.”

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Yolanda Thomas lost her home while working at a hotel. Thomas had been staying at the hotel with her son until she eventually had to leave and came to the Dorothy Day House.

“When we first walked in, we were like, ‘This is a shelter?’” Thomas said. “I loved it. They supported [us]. They told us about a project that would give HUD houses to people staying at the shelter, then when the pandemic hit, that program closed.

“We ended up staying a little longer than we were supposed to.”

Eventually, Thomas got a place, which the Dorothy Day officials helped furnish, and got her family back on their feet. 

“I’ve been gone for a year,” Thomas said. “I’ve got a house. I have a car. I’ve got a great job. My son’s got a job, and I owe that all to them.”

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Cheré Bradshaw serves as the executive director for the Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH) in Memphis. Bradshaw said the nonprofit isn’t preparing homeless community members for the law’s July 1 implementation yet.

“The only thing we can really do is get them into the shelters because we don’t have housing right now,” Bradshaw said. “Our own success has been a problem because we’ve built lots of housing, and when people enter it, they stay 95% of the time. We’re not having the turnover to put more people in there.”

Challenges with shelters

Approximately 6,000 people go through the CAFTH system annually, Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said with the shelters, whether transitional or emergency, the barriers can be an issue for entry.

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“A lot of our people have chronic health problems or alcohol and drug issues, so it’s not always a fit for them,” Bradshaw said. “And a lot of the times, they’ll wind up outside or arrested and continually arrested for being outside. So, it’s already happening here; it’s just not been well published.”

In the annual CAFTH Gaps Analysis survey, 22% of the 67 participants said they don’t stay in a shelter due to shelter rules.

Jeffery Moore has been homeless since he lost his jobs in 2018, and he said he’s at an age where he doesn’t really want to be told how to live his life.

He sleeps outside roughly three nights a week when he can’t afford to get into a shelter or it’s full.

“How am I going to make bond?” Moore said. “It’s just going to make things harder. I’m homeless. I’m just going to be in there taking up space.”

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Moore said he’s on a list for housing assistance and hopes he’ll get a call this year to tell him he’s been accepted.

“It’s been drastic,” Moore said.

In the Gaps Analysis Survey, 68% of the single adults polled said they had been to jail at least once.

What will local enforcement look like?

“I think it’s just swept under the rug, not necessarily that the city or anyone is doing it, but I think a lot of people don’t really take the time to think about the people who are experiencing homelessness,” Bradshaw said. “I don’t really think that sometimes they’re going to jail.”

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“It just really depends on if they’re going to enforce this (new legislation).”

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office officials said that while most of the homeless community members exist within the various city limits, they will give warnings and allow 24 hours for people to relocate.

“It is expected that a majority of the violators who are warned will relocate,” SCSO Lt. Dallas Wolfe said. “If not, officers will make their decision based on the unique circumstances of each case. Our patrol deputies have handouts listing many referral agencies to help the homeless, such as shelters, faith-based assistance and other places to get food and clothing.”

Memphis Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Louis Brownlee said the department is currently looking at how it will affect anything on their end but have yet to make any determinations as to changes.

But Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said, like with all cases, it’s up to law enforcement to make an arrest and present a case to her office.

“We look to the unique facts and circumstances of each case,” Weirich said. “I can assure you we are not looking to prosecute homeless people simply because of where they sleep.”