As Kentucky makes urban camping a crime, 'homeless court' seeks to avoid punishment

By Daniel Trotta

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - The state of Kentucky passed a camping ban last year, frustrated by the growing ranks of homeless people and their encampments. Then came the human consequences.

Louisville police cited Samantha Crabtree on September 27 for unlawful camping. She was in labor and leaking amniotic fluid when police arrived. She said her husband was calling for an ambulance. 

"I don't believe for one second that this lady is going into labor but I called EMS and asked for a Code 3 just in case I'm wrong," the officer said in remarks captured on his body video camera, referring to a call for emergency medical services. 

Her son Justin was born in a hospital a few hours later.

His mother would become one of the first defendants to appear on a special court docket created for people cited with unlawful camping in Louisville in response to the new law. On January 29, the charge against Crabtree was dropped.

Prosecutors and judges at Louisville's Jefferson County District Court say they hope their unlawful camping docket - informally called "homeless court" - can serve as a countrywide model for getting defendants into shelter, affordable housing, or substance abuse treatment rather than jail.

"The whole goal is to get folks connected to services, not to get them convicted of this crime," said Erin White, a Jefferson County prosecutor.

The American Bar Association says there are 47 similar courts in 17 states.

Since the Supreme Court ruled on June 28, 2024, that camping bans are constitutional, more than 150 cities and counties in 32 states have passed some version of an anti-camping law, according to the National Homelessness Law Center, which says such laws are cruel and ineffective.

Eight states also have passed camping bans, according to the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank that has facilitated the legislation, saying some unhoused people must be pressured by police to get the services they need. In the six months after Kentucky's ban took effect in July, police in Louisville, the state's largest city, issued 72 unlawful camping citations.

Once a month, all camping violations are heard in the same Louisville courtroom while service providers stand by across the hall. Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges cooperate to avoid convictions.

So far only one unlawful camping citation has been dismissed outright - the one issued to Crabtree, who complained that police became more hostile after the law took effect.

"Criminalizing the homeless is not right," Crabtree said from the offices of VOCAL-KY, a non-profit group.

NATIONAL ISSUE       

Homelessness has been increasing nationwide, up 18% from 2023 to a record 771,480 people in 2024, according to a one-day census conducted each January.

Louisville, a city of more than 600,000, saw its unsheltered population more than double from 2022 to 2023, and had one large encampment along the Ohio River, since disbanded, that Mayor Craig Greenberg said stretched more than a mile (1.6 km).

The city had 1,728 people living in shelters or on the streets in 2024, but street encampments have largely disappeared with an effort that began before the camping ban, which could result in a $250 fine for a first offense and 90 days in jail for a second offense.

No defendant on the homeless docket has yet been penalized for unlawful camping; instead they are granted time to find help. Prosecutors refrain from seeking bench warrants - which could lead to jail - for defendants who fail to appear in court. 

"We would love to show other jurisdictions the importance of this work," said Judge Karen Faulkner, who presided over the first homeless docket in January.

Some say criminal courts are the wrong tool for connecting the unhoused with services.

"The courts are trying to do the best with what they've been given, which is a crappy statute that doesn't make any sense," said Ryan Dischinger, a public defender. "This statute was passed because, quite frankly, our legislature doesn't like to look at homeless people."

Representative Jason Nemes, a Republican from the Louisville area who was a sponsor of the bill, said he was pleased that defendants were being spared fines or jail time.

"We're trying to get our folks treatment," Nemes said. "It appears to me that the bill is working mostly as the way it was designed."

Crabtree, 34 and a Louisville native, has been on the street most of the past nine years, by her account, through a series of misfortunes including an addiction to "spice," or synthetic marijuana. She says she has been sober 18 months and recently received a federal housing voucher for rent, allowing her and her 5-month-old son to move out of a friend's home and into an apartment.

Justin, appearing happy and plump at 15 pounds, is healthy.

Crabtree has four other children who live with her parents, who have legal custody. Her husband is in jail on a parole violation.

Though she survives on public assistance, the benefits were hard to come by, and police provided no help, she said. Louisville police did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment.

"That was my efforts. That was nobody else. I'm damn proud of myself," Crabtree said, looking down at Justin. "I knew I had to get my act together for him."

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Donna Bryson and Gerry Doyle)