By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — State lawmakers say hotel guests should know if the facility is also serving to shelter those who are homeless.

And now they are on the verge of making that a law.

Legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate Government Committee would preclude the use of public funds for what Rep. Matt Gress calls “mixed hoteling.” That’s when a hotel or motel accepts not just paying clients but also those who need emergency, temporary or transitional rooms to those who are homeless.

But his House Bill 2803 also would require those hotels to erect a sign at least two feet high at all entrances with gothic bold letters a third of an inch high in red ink not just informing guests about homeless being housed there but complete with a recommendation they “keep hotel doors locked, safely store their belongings and report any health or safety concerns to local law enforcement.”

Guests would also have to be personally informed of the presence of homeless when they check in — and given the opportunity to instead get a full refund and go somewhere else.

The party-line vote in the committee came over the objections of Jeanne Woodbury who represents the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. She said this not just about shelter for those who are generally placed in the category of being “homeless.”

“HB 2803 unfairly targets hotels that provide emergency housing for victims of domestic violence and homelessness,” Woodbudy told lawmakers. “We feel it stigmatizes hotels that support these programs, making it less likely that businesses will participate in critical emergency housing efforts.”

And Katelynn Contreras of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona warned the broad wording of what Gress wants would have even broader implications.

Consider, she said, the case of those who are victims of natural disasters, like what happened earlier this year in California where more than 5,400 homes were destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires and more than 12,900 households displaced by the blaze. Contreras said any hotel taking in any of these people, who she said would be considered “homeless” under the bill, would have to post the same warning signs and live under other provisions of the measure.

Gress told Capitol Media Services it is not his intent to deal with emergency situations like that. But he conceded the legislation, which already has been approved by the House, may need to be amended when it goes to the full Senate.

But Contreras said that change still wouldn’t solve legal problems with the measure. For example, she said the government can’t force hotels to erect signs that interfere with their ability to conduct their business and remain financially viable. That, said Contreras, amounts to “compelled speech” by the government on private entities, something she said violates the First Amendment.

Potentially more problematic from a constitutional perspective, Contreras said, is the bill would compel participating hotel owners to “stigmatize homeless persons by implying that the government believes they are more likely to commit theft and have health issues.”

Gress said the issue came to his attention when he learned Scottsdale, an area he represents, was using tax dollars to rent 10 rooms at a local hotel.
He testified he would understand such use in limited situations, like entire families who need to stay together or people with pets for short-term stays. Neither situation can be accommodated at homeless shelters.

Gress, in an interview with Capitol Media Services, said nothing in his legislation bars hotel operators from renting rooms to the homeless — as long as other guests are informed and as long as no public dollars are involved. But he said the whole concept is of using hotels as homeless shelters is bad policy.

“They’re not designed for that,” he said. “They’re not staffed to do that.”
Then there’s what Gress calls the “consumer protection angle” to his legislation.

“If there is a paying patron who is going to the hotel, I think that they should be made aware that the hotel they’re going to is also being used as a quasi homeless shelter,” he said.

Gress said there’s a legitimate reason for requiring a hotel to disclosure there are homeless people being housed there versus mandating that guess be told up front that rooms are being occupied by college students on spring break.

“The homeless population is a very different and vulnerable population, especially when you’re taking people off of the streets and putting them into hotel rooms,” he said.

“A lot of people who are being taken off of the streets are suffering from severe mental illness and/or addiction,” Gress continued. “And when you have families with small kids around, I think there’s a safety issue.”

He said all that should be disclosed to guests up front who, armed with that information, could still choose to stay “or that they could take their money and go find another place.”

The measure drew support from Sen. John Kavanagh.

“Some of these people are street-homeless people who are extremely mentally ill who may have bedbug infestations,” said the Fountain Hills Republican. “I think you need to give people notice when they go to a hotel that they’re not going to be exposing themselves to this.”
But Sen. Lauren Kuby said the legislation is based on assumptions.

“If you want to talk about actual facts, you’re more likely to be the victim of a crime than commit a crime if you’re a homeless person,” said the Tempe Democrat. She noted that hotels fill a need in serving couples and those with pets who cannot go into homeless shelters.

Kuby, a former member of the Tempe City Council, said hotels played a crucial role during COVID when they could be used to safely get homeless people off the street.

“Ultimately, we’re talking about human beings who deserve a place to stay and we shouldn’t be stigmatizing them,” she said.