Georgia lawmakers pass a bill that advocates fear will land homeless people in jail

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers passed a bill early Friday that would allow property owners to file claims against local governments if the individual believes policies that ban people from sleeping outside and require law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities were not enforced.

If Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs the bill, individuals will be able to demand compensation from local governments amounting to alleged lost property value or expenses incurred because of failure to enforce policies such as bans on public camping, loitering and panhandling, and bans on sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The bill’s sponsor, Athens Republican and U.S. House candidate Rep. Houston Gaines, said it’s important to hold cities accountable for enforcing the law. Business owners and homeowners should not have to spend money because a locality fails to clean up encampments, he added.

“Allowing illegal encampments, theft and disorder to flourish is not kindness,” Gaines said. “It’s neglect.”

Democrats and homelessness advocates say the bill would cause law enforcement to arrest people because they have nowhere to sleep and spur frivolous lawsuits paid for by taxpayers. They also say lawmakers should invest in housing and resources that could help unhoused people instead of send them to jail, which could hinder them from securing jobs and homes.

“This bill is ineffective, cruel, and makes it harder to solve homelessness,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director with the National Homelessness Law Center. “It’s also a thinly veiled attempt by lawmakers to score cheap political points on the backs of immigrant communities.”

Lawmakers added a last-minute amendment that could also let people ask courts to order the local government to follow bans on sanctuary policies.

Georgia state Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Democrat, called the bill “nuclear bad policy.” He said if claims go to court, it would be hard to prove whether someone’s property value fell because of unenforced immigration or homelessness policies.

“What you’re inviting is a bunch of court cases where homeowners who are aggrieved at the local government can come make spurious claims about causation and have essentially a circus in court, which wastes judges' time, it wastes juryies time,” McLaurin said.

Opponents also noted that local governments aren’t necessarily responsible for who sleeps outside on a given night.

Justin Kirnon, who works for the city of Atlanta, said at a committee meeting that the city has made major strides in reducing homelessness, and those from outside the city often go there because of the resources the city has. But homelessness is not an “issue that you can just police your way out of,” he added.

“We all agree a lot of things have to be done on this topic, but this isn’t the right approach,” Kirnon said.

“This essentially turns the city’s general fund into a refund pool for any property owner that is dissatisfied with law enforcement’s outcomes when it comes to these particular matters.”

A 2024 Georgia law mandates that local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities to identify and detain immigrants in the U.S. illegally, or else lose state funding. Lawmakers have since considered other proposals aimed at the same population.

“When local governing authorities choose ideology over enforcement, it sends a message that our laws are optional, and when laws are optional, public safety suffers,” said Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon Thursday.

Republicans advanced Gaines' bill last year, weeks after a man was crushed inside his tent by a bulldozer during a homeless encampment clearing in Atlanta, but it did not pass both chambers at the time.

The bill’s provisions related to homelessness stem from proposals written by Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank based in Texas that has been pushing policies such as encampment bans across the country.

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.