Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints

By: Mark Glennon*

Get ready to see homeless camps in parks across Illinois if a bill gaining traction in the Illinois House becomes law. It would override local restrictions to allow homeless encampments in all public parks. Local towns, park districts, cities, forest preserves and all other municipalities of any kind would have their home rule authority on the matter stripped away.

It’s House Bill 1429, the Local Regulation of Unsheltered Homelessness Act, which says local governments wouldn’t be able to establish or enforce a rule fining or criminally punishing homeless people for participating in “life sustaining activities.”

But “life sustaining activities,” under the bill’s definition, means most anything people routinely do. It would include, but not be limited to, “moving, resting, sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protecting oneself from the elements, eating, drinking 5(excluding alcohol), and storing personal property as needed to shelter oneself.”

It has 21 sponsors to date including House Speaker Chris Welch, and 872 homeless advocates and organizations have filed witness slips supporting the bill. An April 15 Housing Committee hearing is the next step.

Look no further than Chicago to see the calamity that results when public parks are opened to living for the homeless. Chicago already broadly allows encampments in its parks, many of which have been trashed. Visit some of the parks yourself where encampments are being set up or see pictures here from the Restore Gompers Park Coalition, a group opposing the Illinois bill.

The bill illustrates the folly in treating the consequences of a problem – homelessness, in this case – instead of the causes. Debate if you want the causes of homelessness, be they drug abuse, mental illness, unemployment, inequality or something else, but don’t try to patch over government’s failure to address them with a solution as misguided as putting the homeless in parks.

As the Restore Gompers Park Coalition put it in their testimony, their opposition is “not rooted in a lack of compassion…. It is informed by direct experience.” And they added this when I spoke to them:

Public parks and forest preserves are not meant to be permanent places to live. However, HB-1429 prohibits local park districts, county forest preserves, and municipalities from creating and enforcing their own policies and ordinances as they relate to individuals experiencing homelessness, meaning your local playground or your nature space can become a long-term encampment, and the elected officials in your community will not be able to do anything about it.

Aside from Chicago, you’d think supporters of the Illinois bill would have seen the lesson from Austin, Texas. In 2019, the city lifted its ban on camping in city parks. That quickly led to a surge in unsanitary, dangerous encampments, drawing fierce backlash from residents and business owners. I walked through a couple of those parks myself at the time and it was just what you would expect: open drug and alcohol use, needles everywhere, no regard for sanitation, fire hazards and no ordinary park users to be seen.

It took only two years for even ultra-liberal Austinites to decide they’d had enough. In 2021, by a 57%–42% public vote, the city reinstated the ban on homeless encampments. A similar statewide ban was signed into law a few days later.

The Illinois bill is opposed by the Illinois Municipal League, the Illinois State Association of Counties and a number of other groups, some of which are listed below. But facing the juggernaut of homelessness activists and strong support of leading Democrats, their opposition may be in vain.

Separately, Illinois is considering a bill to override local zoning laws to allow multifamily building construction in single-family residential neighborhoods. Gov. JB Pritzker is a strong supporter.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

Organizations known to be opposing the bill:

Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
Barrington Police Department
Belleville Police Department
Bloomingdale Police Department
Bloomington Police Department
Blue Mound Police Department
Bridgeview Police Department
Buffalo Grove Police Department
Burbank Police Department
Carol Stream Police Department
Carlyle Police Department
Charleston Police Department
Chatham Police Department
Chicago Police Department
City of Berwyn
City of DeKalb
City of Elmhurst
City of Macomb
City of Marengo
City of Maroa
City of Rockford
City of Rochelle
City of Warrenville
City of Washington
City of Wheaton
City of Wyoming
Clarendon Hills Police Department
Crest Hill Police Department
Crystal Lake Police Department
Decatur Public Schools District 61
DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference
Durand Police Department
Edwardsville Police Department
Effingham Police Department
Elk Grove Village Police Department
Eureka College Police Department
Fairview Heights Police Department
Forest Preserve District of Kane County
Forest Preserves of Cook County Police Department
Fox Lake Police Department
Glendale Heights Police Department
Golf Police Department
Hampshire Police Department
Hanover Park Police Department
Hawthorn Woods Police Department
Huntley Police Department
Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police
Illinois Association of Park Districts
Illinois Municipal League
Illinois Sheriffs’ Association
Illinois State Association of Counties
Illinois State University Police Department
Lansing Police Department
Lexington Police Department
Lincolnwood Police Department
Lombard Police Department
Marion Police Department
Mazon Police Department
McHenry County Council of Governments
McHenry County Government
Metra Police Department
Metropolis Police Department
Metro West Council of Governments
Millstadt Police Department
Mokena Police Department
Morris Police Department
Mt. Vernon Police Department
Normal Police Department
Norridge Police Department
North Aurora Police Department
Oak Forest Police Department
O’Fallon Police Department
Orland Park Police Department
Palos Heights Police Department
Plainfield Police Department
Pontoon Beach Police Department
Prairie Grove Police Department
Quincy Police Department
Riverton Police Department
Rolling Meadows Police Department
Romeoville Police Department
Round Lake Heights Police Department
Rushville Police Department
Sherwood Police Department
Shiloh Police Department
Shorewood Police Department
SIUE Police Department
South Elgin Police Department
Streamwood Police Department
Sugar Grove Police Department
Swansea Police Department
Tri-River Police Training Region
Veterans Path to Hope
Village of Addison
Village of Algonquin
Village of Alsip
Village of Bartlett
Village of Bensenville
Village of Bolingbrook
Village of Brighton
Village of Buffalo Grove
Village of Bull Valley
Village of Burr Ridge
Village of Carol Stream
Village of Crete
Village of Diamond
Village of Germantown Hills
Village of Hanover Park
Village of Hutsonville
Village of Island Lake Police Department
Village of Itasca
Village of Lindenhurst
Village of Monee Police Department
Village of Morton Grove Police Pension Fund
Village of Mundelein Police Department
Village of Oak Brook
Village of Oak Lawn
Village of Palatine
Village of Plainfield
Village of Richton Park
Village of Schaumburg
Village of Sleepy Hollow
Village of Tinley Park
Village of Vernon Hills Police Department
Village of Westmont
Village of Western Springs
Village of Winfield
Village of Woodridge
Waubonsee Community College Police Department
Wauconda Police Department
West Chicago Police Department
Westmont Police Department
Will County Governmental League
Wilmington Police Department
Wood Dale Police Department
Woodridge Police Department
Zion Police Department