KY’s homeless population still in crisis despite anti-camping law, advocates say
One year after a Kentucky law banning street camping took effect, advocates say the law has worsened homelessness in the commonwealth.
The anti-camping law, passed in spring 2024 as part of a sweeping anti-crime bill called the Safer Kentucky Act, made Kentucky one of the first states in the U.S. to outlaw street camping, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
But advocates argue it’s criminalized homelessness instead of helping reduce it.
“Rather than providing a pathway to housing, criminalizing homelessness further destabilizes unhoused Kentuckians’ lives and disrupts access to services,” said Ashley Spalding, research director at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
Spalding spoke during a news conference Tuesday marking one year since the enactment of House Bill 5.
According to the bill, a person violates state law and commits unlawful camping when entering and remaining in a public place with the intent to sleep or camp, using “camp paraphernalia,” such as sleeping bags.
A first offense is punishable by a fine of up to $250, requiring a court appearance. Future offenses are a Class B misdemeanor, which can lead to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to the same amount.
Between July 15, 2024, and July 2, 2025, there were 425 unlawful camping citations issued statewide.
The charges for first offenses were issued most often in Jefferson County, with nearly 177 citations, followed by Fayette with 57, Boyd with 51 and Daviess with 31, according to data from Kentucky’s Administrative Office of the Courts.
That is an average of more than one unlawful camping citation per day.
Spalding said people are frequently cited in parks, bus stations, bus stops, under viaducts, bridges and outside private business.
In one night in Kentucky, 5,789 homeless people were counted in Kentucky, including nearly 2,000 who did not have any kind of shelter, according to the statewide K-Count, an estimate of how many homeless people there are in Kentucky at a given time.
In many Boyd County cases, people who cannot pay for their fines ended up being incarcerated and receiving credit against their fine for each day they spend in jail, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy’s.
“State law does not require courts or other entities to determine whether the person is able to pay before imposing a fine or fee,” the center said in the report. “And there are no standards in establishing what constitutes inability to pay.”
Jefferson County has created a designated court that deals only with unlawful camping cases. People who have been cited are expected to go to court appointments every month and can have their case dismissed if they fill out a housing assessment, obtain a photo ID or work with a provider.
But experts say even if those charged attend all court hearings and comply with such requirements, “only a handful now have housing.”
The fear of being cited has increased since the law’s implementation, leading people to move more often or hide, which has made it harder to provide services, anti-homelessness advocates say.
“People are in such a fear, everywhere they go, that they’re less likely to come to the places that do have services, and they’re way more mistrusting, understandably mistrusting,” said Jennifer Twyman, community organizer and manager of VOCAL-KY, a member-led grassroots organization in Louisville, at Tuesday’s press call.
Accounts from homeless people who have been cited
Several people shared their stories of being cited for living outside with VOCAL-KY and Twyman.
One person told Twyman he was woken up by his feet being kicked. He was cited shortly after he was kicked, according to Twyman.
One homeless woman was in a parking garage, trying to change her clothes, when a security officer found her and told her she couldn’t stay. Two male police officers showed up and arrested her. She told Twyman she didn’t have her pants on at the time.
And one woman in Louisville made national news when she was cited while in labor. She has since obtained housing.
“With every citation or arrest, there’s another story. We hear them all day long,” Twyman said. “HB 5 does not solve homelessness; housing, care and services will.”
Homelessness increase in the state
Since January 2025, homelessness in Lexington and Fayette County has increased by 12%, according to Kentucky Housing Corporation’s latest report.
David Smillie, executive director at Louisville Outreach for the Unsheltered, headquartered in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, said during Tuesday’s media availability that he is seeing a “hybrid creation of chronic homelessness.”
“It’s driving people further into unsafe structures, where it becomes increasingly difficult for service providers to maintain contact with people in order to keep them connected,” Smillie said.
That pushes more people into jails, too, advocates say.
Angela Cooper, communications director at ACLU of Kentucky, said having more people in jail is “never a good thing.”
“Unfortunately, laws like this create a system where we can’t do the things that we’re best at, because we’re too busy trying to mitigate the harm that’s caused by our legislature using failed policies over and over and over again,” Cooper said.
According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy’s report, here is how many first-time unlawful camping citations were issued by county in Kentucky:
- Jefferson: 164
- Fayette: 53
- Boyd: 47
- Daviess: 29
- Hardin: 14
- Franklin: 12
- Pulaski: 10
- Barren, Harlan and Rowan: 6 (apiece
- Christian, Kenton and Laurel: 5 apiece
- Boone and Campbell: 4 apiece
- Bell and Johnson: 3 piece
- Bullitt, Henderson, Jessamine and Warren: 2 apiece
- Casey, Estill, Floyd, Grant, Knox, Pike, Scott, Spencer, Todd: 1 apiece
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
