Congress criminalizes homelessness in D.C. with federal jail time
S. 2517 — A bill to impose criminal penalties for camping on public property in the District of Columbia. · Filed by Tom Cotton (R-AR) · Introduced Jul 29, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill makes it a federal crime to camp on public property in Washington, D.C., punishable by up to $500 in fines, up to 30 days in jail, or both. It applies a single criminal standard across all federal and D.C. public land in the district, overriding local authority and criminalizing homelessness as a federal offense.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to create a new federal criminal offense for camping on public property in D.C. It does not fund services, housing, or alternatives—only punishment. This is a criminalization statute, not a public-health or housing measure.
What the text implies
- Overrides D.C. local authority: the bill imposes a federal criminal standard on a local governance issue, potentially preempting D.C. Council ordinances and local enforcement discretion.
- No funding for alternatives: the bill criminalizes without providing housing, shelter, mental-health services, or other support—forcing enforcement without addressing root causes.
- Jail as default: 30-day jail terms for unhoused persons create criminal records, making future employment and housing access harder, deepening homelessness cycles.
- Disparate impact on vulnerable populations: unhoused persons, those with mental illness, and low-income individuals bear the full enforcement burden; no exemptions for disability, medical need, or emergency.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill criminalizes homelessness by making it a federal offense to sleep on public property, disproportionately harming unhoused persons who have no alternative shelter. It does not fund housing, services, or alternatives—only punishment—and overrides local D.C. governance by imposing a federal criminal standard on a local issue.
Named in the bill
District of Columbia, U.S. Senate, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Tom Cotton (sponsor)
Where it stands
- Jul 29, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 29, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,011 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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