The Jackson City Council introduced an ordinance Tuesday that seeks to eliminate unauthorized homeless encampments on city and public property, following a national trend of lawmakers trying to address the issue of homelessness throughout the nation.
The ordinance would ban “unregulated camping on city property, including sidewalks, alleys, and streets” and provides “for the removal of unauthorized campsites on public property.” It was introduced during Tuesday’s meeting, which means the council could vote on it as soon as their next meeting on Dec. 17.
Jackson’s proposed ordinance is modeled off of another that was approved in Grants Pass, Oregon, which was upheld in a 6-3 decision by the United States Supreme Court earlier this year. The Supreme Court ruled the Grants Pass ordinance as constitutional, stating that people without homes can be arrested and fined for sleeping in public spaces.
A group of homeless people live in an encampment in a wooded area of Southwest Jackson seen on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. The Jackson City Council introduced an ordinance on Tuesday that seeks to eliminate unauthorized homeless encampments on city and public property.
The Supreme Court’s decision overturned a lower court’s decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that ruled banning camping in areas lacking sufficient shelter beds amounts to cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment.
The council’s ordinance is also similar to a bill the Mississippi Legislature aimed to pass earlier this year, but ultimately died in committee. Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, authored Senate Bill 2615, which would make it illegal to sleep and do other activities in certain public places, such as near schools, residences, parks and libraries. The bill also makes it illegal to sleep in areas designated by lawmakers as vital to their communities.
Fillingane previously told the Clarion Ledger that his bill was not intended to be punitive and not a one-stop solution. He said there would still be challenges, including with the government agencies tasked with helping the homeless and the limited resources available in the state.
Jill Buckley, executive director of Stewpot Community Services, a local non-profit faith-based organization that aids the homeless community, had a mixed reaction when asked about the proposed Jackson ordinance.
“I am of two minds. First, I think it is perfectly reasonable for the City to regulate the use of public property and to do so in the best interests of all citizens,” Buckley said in a Tuesday email. “On the other hand, this feels like another step in the direction of criminalizing homelessness, especially if the City is not working toward strategic solutions to homelessness in our city. The City commits resources to assist agencies in the city who are serving people experiencing homelessness, but I do not know of a comprehensive plan that addresses homelessness. Stewpot would be thrilled to be a part of those conversations.”
The council’s ordinance was introduced by Council President and Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay, who was not in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.
Like Buckley, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes and Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley, who both represent wards where homelessness is a large issue, voiced concerns about where the homeless population would go if they were to be removed.
Hartley asked Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba about having “a tight plan to help not only the homeless population themselves but the neighborhoods they impact.” Lumumba nodded, but did not answer.
In an interview earlier this year, Lumumba said one of his goals is to get Jackson to functional zero homelessness by the end of 2025, meaning “no person is unhoused or on the streets of Jackson for more than 30 days, unless it is by their choice,” he said. The mayor spoke on that goal while defending a project called “Safe Place, Safe Space,” that will bring a 60-unit tiny home village that aims to transition homeless people into permanent housing.
City Attorney Drew Martin explained the proposed ordinance was “step one,” but assured Stokes and Hartley that his office was looking into the issues they were concerned about.
“We don’t want this to become a mass incarceration thing. We want to get people off the streets, and we want to find shelters for them,” Martin said.
Other Mississippi cities have also taken similar steps to combat homeless, including Ocean Springs and Southaven. Ocean Springs officials are taking steps to remove people sleeping in tents, including those on private property, according to a January report by WLOX. In 2023, Southaven created an ordinance like Grants Pass, Oregon, that bans sleeping in public places, according to the DeSoto Times.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Proposed Jackson MS ordinance bans homeless encampments