Unhoused Man Sues New Hampshire Over Anti-Loitering Law

Lawsuit Challenges Law as Unfair and Vague

CONCORD, N.H. — A man experiencing homelessness in Concord is suing the state of New Hampshire, arguing that its loitering law unfairly targets people without housing and gives police too much power to arrest individuals for innocent behavior.

Robert Clark, 37, who has been unhoused since 2012, is the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire. Clark has been arrested twice under the state’s “loitering and prowling” statute, which makes it a crime to appear somewhere under circumstances “that warrant alarm for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.”

The ACLU argues that the law is unconstitutional because it is vague and overly broad, allowing officers to arrest people for conduct that poses no real threat.

ACLU Says Law Targets Homeless Residents

“Police shouldn’t have the power to harass and arrest any person for any reason, but New Hampshire’s loitering law allows them to do just that,” said Gilles Bissonnette, the ACLU’s legal director and Clark’s attorney. “Criminalizing unhoused individuals in our communities for simply existing in public spaces does nothing to solve the root causes of homelessness or create real solutions to our state’s housing crisis.”

According to the ACLU, many of the people arrested under the loitering law are unhoused. In Concord, from the summer of 2021 through 2023, the city’s circuit court dismissed 23 loitering cases brought by the police department. Ten of those cases involved homeless individuals, the group said.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, claims the law violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures and guarantee due process.

Broader Homelessness Concerns in Concord

Advocates say the lawsuit highlights a broader issue: the criminalization of homelessness in New Hampshire. The ACLU contends that the loitering law enables police to “harass and arbitrarily punish” unhoused people for behavior that is often unavoidable, such as sitting or standing in public spaces.

Concord officials have conducted multiple encampment sweeps over the past several years. In August, police cleared Healy Park, displacing around 30 people.

According to the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness, more than 2,400 people in the state experienced homelessness in 2023.

Court to Decide Constitutionality of Law

The lawsuit seeks to have the loitering and prowling statute declared unconstitutional and to prevent police from enforcing it.

If successful, the case could reshape how New Hampshire approaches laws that criminalize poverty and homelessness.