This story was originally published by Nevada Current on Dec. 31, 2024.
Well before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal court ruling that prevented cities from punishing unhoused people and paved the way for a national rise in anti-homeless camping bans, Nevada lawmakers considered putting its own limits on how cities respond to homelessness.
Senate Bill 155 sought to prohibit counties from enacting and enforcing laws that punish unhoused folks from engaging in “life-sustaining activities” while Senate Bill 142, deemed the Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights, proposed giving unhoused people the right to sue if their rights were violated.
SB 142 died in committee after being criticized by local officials and lobbyists, and SB 155 was heavily amended to reduce or eliminate fines and fees on an unhoused person provided they complete a court program.
Since the 2023 session, at least seven cities or counties in Nevada have adopted new ordinances or expanded existing ones that in some form criminalize unhoused folks from sleeping or camping.
The cities of Reno, Las Vegas, Henderson and Sparks along with Clark, Washoe and Nye counties have passed or expanded various punitive measures to restrict where those experiencing homelessness can sleep or camp.
State Sen. James Ohrenschall, who sponsored the law to prevent local governments from enacting camping bans, said while he thinks the legislation that did pass was still a good bill that will help people, “I believe in the original version of the bill.”
“I don’t think there should be anti-camping ordinances,” he said. “I don’t think it solves the problem of trying to get people housing. I think those ordinances are counterproductive.
He hopes the 2025 Legislation Session will look at increasing investments in homeless services, but “in terms of whether there will be something like the language in the original version of SB 155, more conversations need to happen.”
Former state Sen. Dallas Harris, the sponsor of a Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights, said she is still trying to reconcile the fact that local officials were arguing there was no need for her legislation yet “they were super nervous about the idea of it being passed."
When asked if she thought people who are experiencing homelessness in Nevada have the same rights as anyone else, Harris said she didn’t.
“A right is not a right without the ability to enforce it,” she said. “Does a homeless person have the ability that — I mean, in actuality — access to the courts, to be able to go and fight a ticket that they felt was unfairly given?
Harris is convinced that in the vast majority of cases, the answer is no.
Beds 17 miles away, maybe
It was shortly after midnight when officers with the Henderson Police Department saw a woman who was unhoused and sleeping under a blanket next to an auto supply store on Lake Mead Parkway.
Officers recognized the 51-year-old woman from issuing her a warning two months earlier for violating Henderson’s camping ban, according to a Dec. 28, 2023, police report.
Henderson passed its camping ban in June 2023.
From August 2023 to September 2024, the Henderson Police Department issued 150 citations or arrests among 99 people for camping or sleeping in a public right of way.
Data analyzed by Nevada Current showed the 51-year-old woman was arrested or cited six times during that period for violating the camping ban.
The second time was Dec. 28 at 12:30 a.m.
Because officers had previously warned her about sleeping on the sidewalk “and a check of shelter beds revealed there were over 300 beds available,” she was cited and told she had two hours to gather her belongings and move.
In an email to the Current, the Henderson Police Department said officers don’t “typically transport to shelters, as the shelters are all located out of Henderson’s jurisdiction.”
Though it’s not “normal practice for our officers” it is possible for “a courtesy transport” to be provided if a supervisor approves it.
Henderson officers check a City of Las Vegas website to determine what shelters have available beds.
I don’t think there should be anti-camping ordinances...I don’t think it solves the problem of trying to get people housing. I think those ordinances are counterproductive.State. Sen. James Ohrenschall
Las Vegas has since stopped updating the website as mid-November after the city amended its camping ban to enforce the ordinance regardless of bed availability.
The police report doesn’t note where the “300 beds” are available but it’s likely the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center in Downtown Las Vegas, which accepts entry 24/7 and offers a sleeping mat.
If the woman wanted to make the 17-mile trek to the courtyard in the wee hours of that December morning when she was cited last year, it is a two hour bus ride or about a six hour walk. She remained in Henderson.
Nearly three hours later, a different officer saw her sleeping in the same spot. In the report, he indicated he knows she was cited earlier in the evening.
She was arrested and booked at Henderson Detention Center. The report doesn’t say how long she remained in detention.
Another police report indicates she was arrested the following night for sleeping outside at the same Henderson auto supply store.
‘Rights that we all hold’
When asked why legislative efforts to prevent cities from criminalizing the unhoused failed in 2023, Harris said in her “honest assessment” is because “homeless people don’t vote.”
"There were not enough of my colleagues who were willing to make a statement and stand for homeless people and take what might be a hit, unfairly so, of course, based upon this idea that homeless encampments would sprout up, or whatever the cost that they felt might be associated with supporting what I thought was a fairly simple piece of legislation,” she said.
SB 142, the legislation Harris had sponsored that year, sought to enshrine the Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights in state law to ensure that a person experiencing homelessness has the same rights as everyone else.
The initial version of the bill said people had “a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her personal property” and specified that an unhoused individual could bring a civil action lawsuit if those rights were violated.
“No matter your housing status, you shouldn’t face discrimination with respect to your use of public spaces,” Harris said in an interview. “These are rights that we all hold, regardless of our housing status or not. It’s sad that simply trying to state that really put our government, our local governments, on edge. That should make all Nevadans a bit nervous.”
Harris removed the section on civil actions lawsuits and added a new section that said “homeless persons are entitled to all of the remedies available under state and federal law to enforce the rights afforded to any other resident of this state.”
Jeff Rogan, a lobbyist for Clark County who testified in neutral on the bill in light of the amendment during a legislative hearing, said at the time the county opposed the original language because it would “impact our ability to provide services that we’ve provided in the past as well as infringe on our ability to maintain the public spaces for equal use by all of our citizens in Clark County.”
The bill didn’t receive a single vote and died in committee.
Harris warned local efforts to criminalize the unhoused from sleeping and camping is going to make things worse.
“Putting people in jail, criminalizing these things, it’s never worked for us,” Harris said. “Historically, it doesn’t work. We can go back to the war on drugs. We can look at other issues we’ve tried to solve this way. It just, it doesn’t do it. We got to do the deeper work.”
Manufacturing criminal records
Ohrenschall worked with the ACLU of Nevada when drafting SB 155.
In a previous interview with Nevada Current, ACLU executive director Athar Haseebullah said they were “told by leadership it wasn’t going to pass, and the governor’s office said it wasn’t going to be signed.”
“It had to be modified in order for it to even get through,” he said.
The version that passed, and was signed into law, authorizes homeless persons who commit certain misdemeanors to be diverted to specialty court programs, where fines may be waived or reduced if they complete the program.
“I need to see what’s being done in the different courts around the state,” Ohrenschall said. “I’m aware of different efforts to make sure there are diversion programs. Some may be in line with the legislation. Courts might be doing it independently in others. I need to get more information on that.”
The bill doesn’t require courts or diversion programs to report back to the legislature.
The Fines and Fees Justice Center of Nevada recently requested data from Reno’s Community Court, which is designed for unhoused people who commit “quality of life offenses” such as unauthorized possession of a shopping cart, trespassing, urinating in public or unauthorized camping.
These are rights that we all hold, regardless of our housing status or not. It’s sad that simply trying to state that really put our government, our local governments, on edge. That should make all Nevadans a bit nervous.Former state Sen. Dallas Harris
The center presented court data from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 to the Reno Human Rights Commission, a subcommittee that makes recommendations to the City Council, on Dec. 12.
Nick Shepack, the Nevada state director for the Fines and Fees Justice Center, said of the 669 people cited to the community court in that time period, 61 individuals successfully completed the court’s requirements.
In an interview with the Current, Shepack said 629 didn’t show up to their court hearing and “ended up with warrants for their arrest for failure to appear.”
Shepack said fines and fees are being eliminated for people who participate in the community court, in alignment with SB 155.
“In order to participate in the court, you must plead guilty or no contest,” he said. “What we are finding is that the vast majority of people are pleading guilty. Even if you complete all of the requirements of the court,” people can “still end with a criminal record.”
“It’s going to show up on a background check right for an employer or someone from the housing authority. It will indicate either that you were currently or recently experiencing homelessness, or that you’ve committed … these certain crimes.”
He called the court well-intended, but he doesn’t consider it a diversion program and hopes there are efforts to make the program more effective.
“A true diversion court would say, if you come and complete the requirements of the court, we’re going to drop the charges in exchange for your completion of the court requirements,” Shepack said.
Making it more punitive
Previous rulings by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Nevada, restricted cities from adopting ordinance that criminalize sleeping when there isn’t available shelter space.
The City of Las Vegas first passed its ordinance in 2019 to criminalize sleeping and lodging in certain areas of town. The ban only went into effect when there weren’t available shelter beds in order to be in compliance with the ruling.
City officials were told at a September meeting that 110 people had been arrested or cited since the ordinance went into effect in 2020.
The U.S. The Supreme Court ruled in June that anti-camping bans passed by cities don’t violate the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment even when there is a lack of adequate shelter spaces for the unhoused to go.
The decision has paved the way for more cities to criminalize sleeping and camping even as the homeless crisis worsens.
Las Vegas expanded its ordinance in November to make it more punitive and remove the shelter requirement.
In the aftermath of the ruling, Clark County commissioners passed a camping ban 6-1 in November. The ban doesn’t go into effect until Feb. 1 and can’t be implemented if there aren’t available shelter beds.
Local officials in Nye and Reno are in early discussions about further criminalization efforts.
“My personal opinion is just because the Supreme Court says you can, doesn’t mean you should,” Harris said.