Missouri and attorney general named in lawsuit regarding new homeless laws

Housing justice advocates filed suit Tuesday against Missouri and the state’s attorney general.

The suit is a challenge to a new law that its filers say will harm people who are unhoused or unstably housed. 

Among other things, House Bill 1606 law makes it a crime to sleep on state-owned land without authorization and places restrictions on the use of state funds for the homeless.

Attorney Ben Stringer, the co-founder of Gathering Tree and Eden Village in Springfield, is also suing the city of Springfield on similar grounds.

The lawsuit alleges that the new laws repeatedly violate the Missouri Constitution.