Picture walking through Waveny Park, finding needles, assorted filth, and scattered encampments. Imagine our towns beginning to mirror San Francisco’s streets, where rampant homelessness has crushed public safety, chased businesses, and gutted community pride. This grim future awaits Connecticut, including Greenwich and New Canaan, if House Bill “H.B.” 7033 becomes law. This legislation, if passed in Hartford, will erode both communal compassion and civic order. There will be nothing legally New Canaan or any town can do to stop this law from being implemented.
A brief background: In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court’s City of Grants Pass v. Johnson decision backed a principle that towns can enforce ordinances to keep public spaces safe. The 6-3 ruling confirmed that fining or jailing people camping on public property does not violate the Eighth Amendment (“cruel and unusual punishment”), even with scarce shelter. This empowers municipalities to protect parks, sidewalks, and greens for residents, free from legal roadblocks.
H.B. 7033, being crafted in Connecticut’s Housing Committee would gut this power. Titled “An Act Prohibiting A Municipality From Imposing Any Penalty On Homeless Persons For Performing Life-Sustaining Activities On Public Land,” it bans penalizing sleeping or stashing belongings on public property. Democrats, never content to leave a proven bad policy alone, have doubled down on failure with this bill, testing liberals’ vaunted tolerance for homeless encampments except perhaps in their own back yards. If passed, it would squash Grants Pass vs. Johnson aligned ordinances, forcing towns to endure encampments indefinitely. Connecticut could soon resemble San Francisco, where over 8,000 homeless, open drug use, and public health disasters swamp public spaces.
San Francisco’s collapse is a frightful warning. Its soft policies on homelessness fuelled crime surges and business exodus, desecrating a vibrant and beautiful city. Connecticut, with 3,410 unhoused in 2024, isn’t immune from this result. New Haven’s Democratic Mayor Justin Elicker slams the bill, saying it cripples towns’ ability to blend compassion and order. He’s the lone prominent Democrat voice thus far speaking out against this bill.
Republicans propose a more common-sense approach: let towns forge solutions while funding fixes like shelters and job training. A strong economy and lower taxes would foster opportunity and do much to prevent widespread homelessness. H.B. 7033 provides zero dollars for housing, dumping encampment and safety costs on municipalities and towns. With Connecticut’s budget strained, Greenwich and New Canaan taxpayers will get stuck with all the costs.
Connecticut’s strength is its safe, thriving towns. H.B. 7033 risks turning parks into squatter camps, diminishing property values, safety, and civic pride. Grants Pass v. Johnson equips municipalities to act decisively; H.B. 7033 rips those tools away.
Lawmakers must kill this bill, champion local control, discipline, and solutions lifting the unhoused while safeguarding towns. Keep Connecticut’s streets clean and secure—not a mirror of San Francisco’s failed policies.
David Lancaster
