HARRISBURG – With World Homeless Day being recognized today, Lancaster County Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El plans to introduce legislation which would decriminalize homelessness across PA. World Homeless Day, observed annually on Oct. 10, raises awareness about homelessness and encourages people to come together to help the unhoused. The lawmaker says his measure addresses the fallout from the U.S.Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which held that a city ordinance criminalizing involuntarily unhoused people who set up encampments on public property does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause. The decision criminalized the over 770,000 homeless people living in the U.S. Smith-Wade-El joined Lancaster’s Water Street Mission President Jack Crowley this morning to talk about homelessness. Crowley sat on a bench for 24 hours to raise awareness of homelessness and encourage action to address the needs of Lancaster’s homeless people.
