homelessness

Groups across Kentucky are taking part this week in an annual effort to estimate the number of people currently experiencing homelessness in the Commonwealth.

She told a police officer she was in labor. The Louisville Metro Police Department lieutenant cited her for unlawful camping as the ambulance arrived. She had a baby later that day.

Advocates say that, too often in Kentucky, people with mental illness cycle through jails and prison as a default for proper treatment.

Challenges are growing for people experiencing homelessness in Kentucky, but a group of housing advocates is offering a different path forward.

Nearly two dozen unhoused people in Louisville have faced bench warrants after they failed to appear in court for “unlawful camping,” as a result of the Safer Kentucky Act. Advocates say it's what they feared, but expected.

The Safer Kentucky Act, which penalizes people experiencing homelessness for camping outside, will take effect next week. Some service providers in Louisville say it’s going to make homelessness worse.

In a decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court gave wide discretion to states and localities to create policy around homelessness. It clears the way for a Kentucky ban on outdoor homelessness to go into effect in July.

The outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case based in Grants Pass, Oregon, could have consequences for street camping bans that effectively ban public homelessness across the country — including a similar statewide ban passed in Kentucky this year.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul spoke about inflation, veteran support, mental health and homelessness during a visit to western Kentucky on Monday that included stops in Hopkinsville, Grand Rivers, Madisonville and Murray.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Some Kentucky lawmakers shared a meal of fried chicken and green beans with people who could be most affected by a bill to make sleeping on a sidewalk or under a bridge illegal. The luncheon held Wednesday in the Capitol Annex gave lawmakers a glimpse into the lives of unhoused Kentuckians. It comes as lawmakers are considering a sweeping criminal justice measure that critics say would criminalize homelessness.