East Lansing City Council Delays Vote on Camping and Loitering Ban

After lengthy discussions and a deluge of public comment, city leaders in East Lansing say more time is needed to review language in a proposed city ordinance amendment that would ban loitering in parking areas and public camping.

The proposal would make it a civil infraction to loiter in public parking lots or structures, while making camping in any public space in East Lansing punishable by up to 30 days of incarceration and a $200 fine.

The unhoused community in East Lansing has been the central subject in the city’s consideration on the policy, with some members of the community calling for a crackdown on the presence of unhoused individuals in the area while others in the city decry the bans, saying they would essentially criminalize poverty.

It’s a necessary measure to take up, East Lansing Police Chief Jennifer Brown told East Lansing City Council members during their meeting on Tuesday, as the police department has seen a significant increase in crime in the downtown area over the last year and members of the community report feeling unsafe navigating city parking options.

Brown conveyed that the stated priority of the proposed amendment is to connect unhoused residents with the appropriate service providers and helping organizations that can aid in those residents’ health and safety. Public safety officers or other city employees such as social workers within the police department would be required to connect individuals violating the loitering or camping ban to the appropriate resources before enforcing repercussions.

But there is only one homeless shelter in East Lansing, and it’s consistently full and serves families over individuals, Matthew Boughton, who serves on the East Lansing Human Rights Commission said during Tuesday’s meeting.

And if East Lansing’s plan is to force its unhoused neighbors to trek over to Lansing, they should know that the Lansing shelters are full as well, Boughton said. 

“There are many problems in the city of East Lansing, but one I’ve noticed more and more is the growing gap between our stated values and decisions that lack basic humanity,” Boughton said. “If you want to see fewer homeless people, there’s a way to do it, invest in affordable housing and invest in mental health services. People are not on the street because they want to be, but because our society failed them.”

As East Lansing further considers the bans on camping and loitering, Lansing is also making decisions that are driving unhoused residents to the outskirts of society, making it harder for them to access life-sustaining resources, Executive Director of Punks with Lunch in Lansing Kelsea Hector told East Lansing Info late last year.

After the City of Lansing successfully disbanded a homeless encampment at the end of 2025 that had stood for years in the city, Hector said it has left the unhoused population she serves in a dangerous position, especially as they face Michigan’s winter weather.

“I’ve had participants call me because they have frostbite… And so they’re having a hard time staying warm… When people are trying to stay warm, their tent burns down,” Hector said.

A major concern for Hector and other unhoused advocates over East Lansing’s proposed bans on camping in public places and loitering in parking areas is that they worry the bans would operate as bans on the presence of unhoused individuals in public.

The issue of homelessness is a national problem and one East Lansing needs to address with kindness and compassion, newly elected City Council member Steve Whelan said and noted as a former police officer, law enforcement needs better tools and resources to serve the unhoused community while maintaining safety for the rest of the city.

Whelan asked City Attorney Steven Joppich to confirm that with how the ordinance amendment is written, individuals, regardless of housing status, will be able to sit in open public areas or benches, as long as they aren’t in parking structures or lots without being seen as violating the ordinance, which Joppich said was correct.

However, Councilmember Mark Meadows raised concerns that in practicality, without further refinement to the ordinance language, there’s a possibility that the loitering portion could be enforced in areas not pertaining to parking, indicating that the public’s concerns of an effective ban on homeless people in public could come to fruition.

Council members concluded action on the proposed ordinance, calling for more discussion at a meeting later this month, with further action to be taken in February.