'My heart just broke': Standridge files bill criminalizing homeless encampments

Jan. 23—Norman's state Sen. Rob Standridge filed a bill criminalizing homeless encampments — a move local advocates call "disgusting," as they say it does nothing to address the problem and only hurts people already struggling.

The bill, Senate Bill 1381, would require municipalities to conduct inspections on homeless encampments to ensure they meet "building codes established by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission." If they do not meet the code 30 days after inspection, the municipality must "abolish the camp."

In addition, municipalities that don't inspect the encampments within 30 days would be held "liable for any harm within and outside of the immediate boundaries of the homeless camp."

Standridge, R-Norman, did not respond to The Transcript's request for comment but did release a press release on the bill. In the release, he specifically mentioned Norman, which has a number of homeless encampments across the city.

"While the city would not let someone construct a home or business without following all the proper codes and requirements, especially those dealing with sanitation, the city of Norman has allowed countless homeless camps to pop up all over the city with total disregard to drainage and proper treatment of raw sewage and other waste," Standridge said in the release. "These camps should be required to be properly permitted like any campground would be to ensure the safety of those in the camp and in neighboring homes and buildings with regards to drinking water, sewage and other waste."

Homeless advocates say that Standridge's bill poses no solution and rather continues to punish those who are struggling with homelessness.

"People like [Standridge] work so hard to find ways to criminalize homelessness instead of trying to find solutions and address the root causes that lead to the issue in the first place," said Ward 1 City Councilor Brandi Studley. "At the end of the day, these are people who are already suffering, and this bill will just compile onto an already difficult situation."

In the past Norman has abolished homeless encampments at the request of citizens without providing the people living there with an alternative place to go. This bill only worsens that problem, advocates say.

April Heiple, executive director of Food and Shelter in Norman, said her "heart really just sank" when she read the legislation.

"We make it so hard on people who are homeless already, and for there to be an active initiative to make it even harder, my heart just broke," Heiple said. "We have de-humanized people who are homeless. As a community, we have generalized and criminalized them, and I just I feel like this is definitely not the moral thing to do."

Heiple said she is unaware of what the end goal of this legislation ultimately is — if encampments are "abolished" that doesn't solve the problem; these people still have nowhere to live, Heiple said. Unless Standridge's goal is just to "run these people out of town," she doesn't really know the purpose of his legislation, she said.

The state, just like the city, does have an ability to address the root cause of homelessness and to find solutions to people struggling with it, but instead, they continue to try to make it harder for them to live, she said. As an advocate, Heiple urges the state to actually address the root cause and help people, not just criminalize them.

"Senator Standridge could easily put forth a bill to shift money into programs that would help these people with addiction, mental health issues and housing needs — all of those wraparound services that are necessary for a person who's homeless to find their way out," Heiple said. "They can shift money into Veterans Services so we could be housing more homeless veterans.

"I mean, if we really want to tackle this problem, there's no amount of laws we can create or penalties we can place on people. It's just going to create a bigger problem that they are struggling to overcome."

Reese Gorman covers politics and COVID-19 for The Transcript. Reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.