Phoenix suburb adopts ‘urban camping’ law aimed at homeless
Jun 21, 2018, 12:21 PM | Updated: 5:24 pm
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
PHOENIX — Homeless people in a suburb northwest of Phoenix might want to consider leaving town.
Wednesday night, the Surprise City Council adopted its first “urban camping” ordinance.
Basically, the ordinance says the city’s streets and public areas can’t be used for camping or storing personal possessions. If convicted of urban camping, a misdemeanor, a person risks a fine as well as fees for transporting and storing property.
The person cited can choose to be sent to an homeless shelter within 50 miles of Surprise.
Surprise Police Chief Terry Young assured the council this will not change how his officers deal with homeless people.
“Our officers engage with our homeless population as they do all of our residents … (by) providing help and assistance where they can,” he said.
The ordinance does not apply in certain situations. For example, people camping in their own backyard are not breaking any laws. Private companies that allow people to stay overnight in their parking lots are not breaking any laws, either.
One audience member said the ordinance may not solve a real problem. Realtor Maryann Germain thanked the council for not automatically demonizing the homeless as drunks and drug addicts. However, she said, many have issues that bar them from affordable housing.
“I don’t necessarily agree that we have lack of housing,” she said. “We just have lack of tenants that are up to the standards of the property-management companies.”
Some issues, she said, include bad credit and a criminal past.