East Lansing City Council to Vote on Controversial Camping and Loitering Ordinances Tonight
The East Lansing City Council is set to vote Tuesday night on city ordinances that would create bans on loitering in parking places and camping on public property that community members and housing advocates say unfairly target unhoused residents and perpetuate cycles of poverty.
If adopted, Ordinance 1565 would amend city rules to ban loitering in city-owned parking structures and lots. Violators could face a civil infraction, with the ordinance clarifying that a police officer must first “personally” advise the violator of the existence of the ordinance and request compliance before a penalty can be levied.
The camping ban on public property proposed under Ordinance 1566 would bar setting up or remaining in a public places with bedding materials, cookware, stoves or fire “for the purpose of maintaining a temporary place to live.” Public places include streets, sidewalks, alleys, parking areas, parks, restrooms or other city facilities or “any other place which is open to the public view, or to which the public has access.”
Language in Ordinances 1565 and 1566 states that the proposed bans would not be enforceable if the person camping or loitering was using a structure for shelter during thunderstorms, hail and sleet or during a tornado or tornado warning.
Just like the ban proposed for loitering, Ordinance 1566 states that a police officer must inform a person of the ban and request compliance prior to penalties under the ordinance. The camping ban further outlining that if the violator identifies as an unhoused individual, before the penalties are enforced, officers must make reasonable efforts to connect the individuals with appropriate resources such as homeless shelters or treatment facilities.
Violations of the camping ban could result in a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of up to 30 days and a fine of up to $100.
Local housing advocates, researchers and residents have railed against the bans saying the bans would drive unhoused individuals to the frays of society, making it harder for them to rest in spaces that are safe for them and receive help from first responders.
East Lansing only has one homeless shelter and its services are geared towards families, not single residents, Tenant Resource Center Mid-Michigan Executive Director Khadja Erickson said during the Dec. 9 City Council meeting.
“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 during the Dec. 9 City Council meeting.
Recent months have seen a spike in crime and some individuals visiting the city’s downtown report feeling unsafe, particularly when navigating parking, East Lansing Police Chief Jennifer Brown has said at City Council meetings where she has presented the camping and loitering bans.
“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 during the Dec. 9 City Council meeting.
But homelessness can happen to anybody, Nicholas Cook, director of public policy for the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, or MCAH, told East Lansing Info back in December. From domestic violence, chronic illness, mental health battles and addiction, there are many reasons a person may become homeless, Cook said, and that doesn’t make someone unworthy of being seen in society.
To oppose the bans, MCAH, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the National Homelessness Law Center sent a letter to City Council back in January arguing that the bans do not effectively curb crime and could be challenged in court.
City Council is set to meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center.