East Lansing Advances Public Camping Ban as Critics Warn of ‘Criminalizing Homelessness’

East Lansing City Council members voted on Tuesday to further consider measures city leaders hope will promote public safety in the downtown area, including a ban on loitering in parking areas and public camping, which some residents argued effectively make it a criminal act to be homeless.

Public safety in downtown East Lansing has been a sticking point for the community in recent months as East Lansing Police Department employees have implored local leaders to address rising crime in the area, while many residents have raised concerns over racial bias and accountability within the department.

The amendments to the loitering and camping ordinance will help local partners better serve unhoused individuals while also addressing concerns about safety by patrons that come to East Lansing businesses and events, East Lansing Police Chief Jennifer Brown told council members Tuesday.

“It gives the city a clear process for addressing prolonged gatherings or activities in these spaces that can make others feel unsafe or discourage use of the facilities,” Brown said, adding that the first priority for public safety officers, outlined in the amendments, is to connect individuals experiencing homelessness to resources and services to ensure their health and safety.

The amendments to the city’s camping and loitering ordinance are among a series of recommendations Brown presented to the council, created by a downtown solutions committee composed of city officials aimed to promote public safety in the downtown area. The committee found six areas in need of improvement to promote health and safety in the downtown area: Addressing excessive noise, consideration of a social district, addressing the needs of unhoused residents, promoting safety for lines outside of bars, increased crime and general cleanliness of the downtown.

Council members voted to further consider an amendment to the city’s camping ordinance to ban camping in any public space. Those who violate the ordinance would be given the opportunity to leave the public place by city officials or public safety officers, but if they refuse to do so they could face a fine of up to $100. For the ordinance changes to be implemented, council will have to vote in favor of a second reading at a future meeting.

A repeated violation of the ordinance would double the maximum fine to $200 and would be a misdemeanor that could mean up to 30 days of imprisonment.

The proposed amendment outlines that if the person camping identifies as an unhoused individual, officers or other city officials are required to attempt to provide the person with information or assist in connecting them with an appropriate housing or other welfare organization prior to enforcing any penalty for violating the ordinance.

But East Lansing has no emergency shelter option for unhoused people, Khadja Erickson pointed out to council members during public comment Tuesday. And without shelter options or sanctioned encampments where individuals can go, Erickson said East Lansing would effectively make it illegal to exist in a public space if a person is experiencing homelessness.

“That is not public safety. It is cruelty disguised as policy…If the city has not provided a legal alternative location where human beings can sleep then prohibiting camping, prohibiting resting and prohibiting being present in public spaces is nothing more than punishing poverty. It is a ban on survival itself,”  Erickson said.

Haven House, the only shelter located in East Lansing that the committee for downtown solutions listed in its recommendations is consistently full, Erickson said.

If the plan is to direct unhoused individuals to Lansing shelters, instilling a ‘not in my backyard’ approach to homelessness in East Lansing, Erickson said the council should be aware that Lansing shelters are full and Lansing has been eliminating encampments.

“If your plan is to fill up the East Lansing jail, fill up the Ingham County jail, maybe tack on some felony charges so that you can send people up to [the Michigan Department of Corrections]. That’s not a plan,” Erickson said. “This sounds like you are intending to institutionalize and incarcerate your way out of homelessness and I cannot tell you enough, it will not work.”

East Lansing needs to be a friendly place that families can frequent and that just isn’t the case right now with some of the aggressive and destructive behaviors some unhoused individuals in the area exhibit, Ali Haider, owner of a 7-Eleven in the downtown area said.

Haider has appealed to council for months to address public safety issues as he says his employees have been physically and verbally abused by loiterers and hear unhoused individuals yell sexually charged remarks at young women in the area. On Tuesday, he said his employees have had to clean up fecal matter on his property left by unhoused individuals and that unhoused individuals have broken the doors on the business’ alcohol fridge.

“It’s a matter of safety, not only for business owners, for their customers, for the families and for children,” Haider said.

Rep. Emily Dievendorf, who has spearheaded several legislative efforts to advocate for affordable housing and protections for unhoused individuals, raised concerns over criminalizing poverty in a statement to East Lansing Info ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, saying the ordinance would further distance neighbors experiencing housing insecurity from essential services and safety. 

“Our region has been working diligently toward coordinated, compassionate, and effective solutions to reduce homelessness, and I urge the City of East Lansing to join these regional efforts rather than adopting punitive measures that will worsen the crisis,” Dievendorf said. “We must choose policies grounded in dignity, housing access, and proven strategies, not fear or frustration.”

The changes to the ordinance were voted through by council members for further consideration.

Council also voted to further consider an ordinance amendment to allow police to perform traffic stops on the basis of loud exhaust noise. In the same vein, council voted to direct the city manager to pursue communication with state legislative efforts to regulate aftermarket changes to vehicles that promote loud noise.