JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A proposed rule drafted by Jackson’s legal team could help reduce homeless encampments in public spaces.

City Attorney Drew Martin told lawmakers this week that his office is working on an anti-camping ordinance for the capital city, saying it would “mimic” legislation in effect in Grants Pass, Oregon.

The announcement came during a meeting of the House Select Committee on Capital Revitalization on Wednesday.

According to Martin, the measure would make it a misdemeanor to sleep on sidewalks, streets, alleys, doorways or in vehicles or rights-of-way parked in public areas unless the property is designed for camping or an exemption is granted.

He said the rule would give Jackson Police a new tool to address at least some of the city’s homeless concerns.

“There’s the problem of homelessness, there’s wandering, there’s begging, there’s squatting… Of course, there are no simple solutions to any of this, but there are some legal tools available,” he said. “This is not the end of the answer. “This may be a legal answer, but there is also a human answer.”

Martin was one of several speakers who appeared before the committee. Members also heard from local law enforcement, as well as homeless advocates and community leaders.

He said the city has asked lawmakers to draft a similar ordinance that could be enforced by the Capitol Police and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, neither of which can enforce the city law.

Wednesday’s meeting was the committee’s third meeting. Members had previously met to discuss the future of Jackson water and blight eradication.

Martin told the committee that the regulation was modeled after a regulation in Grants Pass, Oregon, recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Before this decision… the general position of the law was that you didn’t have a lot of tools to stop homeless people on the street, unless you could also show that you had safe and adequate places to put them. them,” he said.

“The Supreme Court, for better or worse, said, ‘No, that’s not the case.’ ‘If you want to pass a law that allows you to take people off the streets under certain conditions, you don’t need to have enough space to accommodate people.’”

The Grants Pass ordinance prohibits individuals from camping on public property or parking overnight in city parks, according to court records. First violations can result in a fine, while multiple violations can lead to prison time.

The rule was challenged in federal court, with opponents saying it violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ordinance was unconstitutional and sent the matter to the Supreme Court, which reversed the Ninth Circuit in a 6-3 decision.

Martin said the high court’s decision targeted legal necessity, not the humanitarian element.

“We need to figure out where to send people next. “What Grants Pass and many cities in Oregon, Washington and California have done is set up urban areas as essentially temporary encampments,” he said. “They’re very similar to the homeless encampments you see now, but they’re limited to certain locations.”

“I think you can imagine that those are probably in less populated areas… and there are debates about what services should or should be provided to people in those situations… Do we provide water? Do we provide tents?” he asked. “You don’t want to encourage people to come to these places… But you also don’t want people in the Mississippi heat to sit there with no water and literally die.”

The meeting lasted approximately three hours. Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade, Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey and Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones also briefed committee members, highlighting the challenges their departments face in dealing with vagrants.

(TO READ: Local law enforcement keeps quiet about Jackson’s homeless problem)

Luckey said the only thing his officers can do right now is ask vagrants to move away if they are causing a disturbance to public property.

He mentioned a recent incident at Smith Park. Officers responded to the 2.4-acre site after receiving calls about a vagrant yelling obscenities at people.

“All we could do was tell him to pack his things and get out of the park,” he said. “We watched him walk down Congress (Avenue), past the Governor’s Mansion and … walk south.”

Police can’t force a vagrant to go to a shelter if he doesn’t want to go, Luckey said. He also said shelters will not take in individuals if they are aggressive.

Some homeless people do not want to go to shelters because drug use is prohibited in the facilities.

“They choose to sleep on the streets after joining Rain Power and getting what they need,” he said. “They prefer to be fed by Stewpot, but they prefer to stay on the streets where they have control of what they want to do.”

Representative Jill Ford asked officers if they were aware of what she called a “homeless city” located behind the former Toys “R” Us on East County Line Road.

Wade said he was aware of the camp but wasn’t sure how large it was. He said it was a “perfect example” of why vagrants were attracted to the capital.

“They can panhandle and make money, and I see some of them have really nice bikes that people have given them, so now they have a means of transportation to get to and from I-55, County Line and Lakeland Drive,” he said. in question. “They stay close to where the resources are.”

Wade, Luckey and Jones answered many questions, including why homeless people are attracted to the capitol.

There were approximately 780 homeless people living in the state in 2023, according to a report cited by Rep. Shanda Yates. Of those, 680 were in Jackson.

Officers said these individuals are drawn to the capital in part by all the resources available, from shelters to mental health facilities to more opportunities for panhandling.

“There is panhandling on Lakeland Drive and County Line Road. “Due to the population, it is much more efficient than going to the district and other places,” he said.

Ford said panhandlers on County Line would often take turns at the intersection, stay in the shade near Farm Bureau South and spend the night in nearby hotels.

Jones, who lives in northeast Jackson, said he is aware of the problem.

“We had a guy there about two weeks ago. He was in a wheelchair and he was at the intersection of Ridgewood Court and County Line Road, knocking on the windows… I actually had to block traffic to get him back across the street,” he said. “This wasn’t just about begging. “He could have been hit by a car… and then we would have had to crash.”

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