Georgia lawmakers passed a bill early Friday that would allow property owners to file claims against local governments, putting homelessness enforcement and “sanctuary” cooperation with federal immigration authorities into a potential civil litigation track. If Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs the legislation, claimants could seek compensation tied to alleged lost property value or costs they say resulted from local failures to enforce certain policies, according to the bill’s framework.
The measure would cover local enforcement of bans on activities and behaviors tied to homelessness, including policies that prohibit people from sleeping outside and require law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities when those rules are in place. It also targets local approaches that limit sanctuary policies—specifically, the bill would be tied to whether local governments enforce bans that restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Houston Gaines—an Athens Republican and U.S. House candidate—said it was important to hold cities accountable for enforcement. He argued that business owners and homeowners should not have to pay expenses when a locality does not clean up encampments, and he framed the bill as a response to illegal encampments and disorder.
Gaines said, “Allowing illegal encampments, theft and disorder to flourish is not kindness,” adding, “It’s neglect.” He said the bill would create a mechanism for those affected by alleged non-enforcement to pursue compensation from local governments.
Democrats and homelessness advocates said the bill would worsen homelessness and shift resources toward litigation rather than housing and services. Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director with the National Homelessness Law Center, said the bill “is ineffective, cruel, and makes it harder to solve homelessness,” and he argued it also serves as “a thinly veiled attempt by lawmakers to score cheap political points on the backs of immigrant communities.”
Lawmakers also added a last-minute amendment that would let claimants ask courts to order local governments to follow bans on sanctuary policies. Supporters and opponents viewed that pathway differently, but both sides said the bill could deepen disputes over how local agencies handle both encampments and federal immigration enforcement cooperation.
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Democrat, called the bill “nuclear bad policy.” He argued that if claims go to court, it would be hard to prove whether property values fell because of a local government’s failure to enforce immigration or homelessness-related policies rather than other factors, and he warned that the legal theory could lead to cases he described as wasting judicial resources.
McLaurin said, “What you’re inviting is a bunch of court cases where homeowners who are aggrieved at the local government can come make spurious claims about causation and have essentially a circus in court, which wastes judges’ time, it wastes juries’ time.” Opponents also argued that local governments are not necessarily responsible for who sleeps outside on a given night, pointing to the movement of people seeking services.
Justin Kirnon, who works for the city of Atlanta, said the city has made “major strides in reducing homelessness,” but he said homelessness is not something that can be solved through policing alone. Kirnon said, “We all agree a lot of things have to be done on this topic, but this isn’t the right approach,” and he criticized the way the bill could function financially for property owners.
Kirnon added, “This essentially turns the city’s general fund into a refund pool for any property owner that is dissatisfied with law enforcement’s outcomes when it comes to these particular matters.” He said the bill’s approach risks tying budget impacts to enforcement results rather than broader strategies to address homelessness.
Republicans pointed to existing state requirements for immigration enforcement cooperation. A 2024 Georgia law mandates that local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities to identify and detain immigrants in the U.S. illegally or else lose state funding, and lawmakers have since considered other proposals aimed at the same population.
Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon said, “When local governing authorities choose ideology over enforcement, it sends a message that our laws are optional, and when laws are optional, public safety suffers.” He argued that the bill fits that enforcement logic.
The bill advanced after Republicans previously pushed similar provisions last year, weeks after an incident in Atlanta in which a man was crushed inside his tent by a bulldozer during a homeless encampment clearing. Those earlier efforts did not pass both chambers at the time. The provisions related to homelessness stem from proposals written by the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank based in Texas that has promoted encampment bans across the country.