Des Moines’ ban on homeless encampments just got tighter. City council members voted to remove exemptions from the camping ban ordinance, which means more people may now be charged and/or fined.
It has been a year since the original ordinance was passed, which criminalized sleeping or camping in many public places, including in vehicles. People experiencing homelessness were given three days instead of 10 to move their belongings, or risk having them cleaned up by the city.
They could also be charged with a misdemeanor and/or fined $15.
“What this does is it makes an overly punitive ordinance more punitive. It makes a bad policy worse.”Josh Mandelbaum, Council member
Previously, someone could avoid being charged by saying shelters had no space for them, or that they couldn’t afford the fine. Now, those exceptions are gone.
After three meetings, the council passed the change 5-2. Council members Josh Mandelbaum and Mike Simonson voted against the amended ordinance. A few rows of protestors booed and shouted, “Shame on you!” towards council members who voted in favor of the changes.
“I was hopeful that we would have had an opportunity to find some clarifying language that could be acceptable to all parties,” Simonson said before the vote.
One of the reasons why the ordinance was amended was due to concerns over legal liability. Mandelbaum said the best way to avoid that liability would have been to remove the ordinance entirely.
“What this does is it makes an overly punitive ordinance more punitive," Mandelbaum said. "It makes a bad policy worse."
One year after the camping ban, homeless people adjust to the new rules
When the camping ban revision was first put on the agenda for a meeting last month, Simonson said that, to his knowledge, the city had not issued any citations or fines in violation of the ban.
During a council work session this week, Director of Neighborhood Services Chris Johansen said encampments have been getting smaller because there has been more enforcement. Outside of the downtown core, he said public workers are sent to clean up encampments based solely on complaints.
He also confirmed that people in different neighborhoods have been sending in more reports requesting encampment cleanups.
Joppa, a homelessness prevention nonprofit, interviewed Jenn Jass, who was affected by those cleanups earlier this year.
“I was so used to picking up and moving somewhere else because the city had really gave us a run for our money,” Jass told Joppa. “They would come out and post us and bulldoze us.”
On one occasion, she said workers only gave her 10 minutes to gather whatever belongings she could carry in one trip. She couldn’t keep a suitcase holding items from her daughter’s funeral.
During public comment after the final vote, Nina Rickman, a volunteer from Urban Bicycle Food Ministry, shared the story of someone she met. Rickman spoke about Maria, who can’t stay in shelter due to severe mental illness.
“When you talk with her, what you hear is a quiet desperation. Because Maria doesn't want to be homeless. But she's out of options and she's really scared.”Nina Rickman, volunteer with Urban Bicycle Food Ministry
“When you talk with her, what you hear is a quiet desperation. Because Maria doesn't want to be homeless,” Rickman said. “But she's out of options and she's really scared.”
Council member says dangerous encounters make stricter enforcement necessary
Council member Chris Coleman voted for the ordinance, but he clarified that he’s not trying to round up people or do sweeps of homeless encampments. He wanted a stricter ordinance to stop people from being disrespectful to social workers.
“This is not the homeless population. This is a very small population that the city needs some new tools to deal with those folks that are causing problems,” Coleman said.
In September, there was a shooting at a homeless encampment. In a separate incident, Coleman also said he took a gun away from someone leaving an encampment 100 yards away from an elementary school.
“There are these unique situations that we just can't turn our eye and say that's OK,” Coleman said. “We need our police and our social workers and our outreach workers to make sure that if people are living homeless, they still live within the civility rules that we have as a community.”
The vote to pass the ordinance was presented with an agreement to expand Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) by at least 25 beds, including non-group living spaces.
Coleman said he agreed to revise the ordinance because that expanded capacity means the ordinance can “tell a more persuasive story to the people on the streets,” he said.
The city council also voted to fund permanent supportive housing, lease land to Joppa for its tiny village project and to continue to make progress on other housing initiatives.
