Strike Everything Bill Resurrects Punitive Housing Bill

Our partners at Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest recently sent out an email, alerting us to the resurrection of a bill that we had opposed. How can a bill come back from the dead? How will these new bills affect shelter services for the unhoused? Keep reading to learn more.

At this point in the session, any bill that has not been heard in committee is considered dead. However, there is a work around: strike everything bills delete most of or the entire text of a bill that has already been heard, and replaces it with new policy. Strike everything bills are essentially brand new bills, sometimes even on completely different topics.

This session, we heavily opposed HB2782, introduced by Matt Gress (LD04). This bill would require all hotels which contract with cities to provide shelter for the unhoused to post signage using cruel language and implying that the presence of unhoused people makes the area more dangerous, as well as introducing punitive punishments for substance possession, and making the funding process for these programs more complicate. LAMA was joined by many different programs, from shelters to municipalities, in opposing this bill.

Read our RTS alert opposing this bill here.

HB2782 was voted down in the House, and we assumed that we were done with this policy.

Two bills, HB2279 and SB1238, have bring the most punitive parts of this policy back. These policies only stand to harm our neighbors in need and make the process of establishing shelter programs more difficult. The Arizona Housing Coalition opposed this bill because of its….

• Punitive Nature: 
  While aiming to establish drug-free homeless service zones, these bills adopt a punitive approach by imposing additional criminal penalties for drug-related violations. Punitive measures may not effectively address homelessness and could burden the judicial system and strain state resources.

• Lack of Clarity: 
  The bills lack clarity on enforcement mechanisms for homeless service providers, leading to concerns about practicality and potential misuse of law enforcement resources.

• Reduction in Shelter Options: 
  These bills ban publicly funded “mixed hoteling” and impose signage requirements in hotels hosting unhoused individuals. This restriction will limit non-congregate shelter options, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like homeless veterans, seniors, and youth.

• Unrealistic Data Collection Requirements with $5 million in claw back from last year's Housing Trust Fund allocation: 
  The mandate to track external outcomes, sometimes protected by HIPAA, poses unrealistic challenges for service providers. A more effective approach would involve state-level performance measures to ensure accountability across the spectrum of homeless services.

We encourage you to reach out to your legislative offices and express your disappointment at the return of these policies. Contact information can be found here.

Thank you for your advocacy on the behalf of our neighbors in need. We look forward to bringing you updates about this policy.