Community members discussed a proposed ban on public camping during a more than six-hour meeting of the Morgantown City Council on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Screenshot from Morgantown City Council livestream)
After more than five hours of public comment that lasted into the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Morgantown City Council approved a measure that expands laws targeting homeless people who camp in public. Council members voted 4-3 in favor of the ban.
The ordinance prohibits camping on public property — including streets, parks and trails — and also prohibits storing personal property in public spaces. Second and third violations of the law are punishable by fines of $200 and $300, respectively, and/or 30 days in jail.
Morgantown already had a regulation prohibiting camping or temporary housing in a park without written permission from the city manager.
Councilwoman Louise “Weez” Michael originally proposed the ban during the City Council’s regular meeting on July 2, just days after a ruling by the US Supreme Court Upholds Oregon City’s Ban on Public CampingIn a June 28 ruling, the Supreme Court held that ordinances enacted by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, that prohibit homeless people from sleeping within city limits do not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
During the July meeting, Michael said she believes that homeless people sleeping in public “have become such an acute and serious safety and health problem that we can no longer wish the problem would go away. … We need to send a message that this city will no longer tolerate misconduct.” An initial reading of the legislation was approved by a 4-3 vote on August 20.
The vote, which took place around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, followed public comments from more than two dozen speakers, all but a few of whom opposed the ban. Molly Kennedy, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, told the council that the civil rights group would be watching closely to see if the ordinance passed. An attorney for the organization told West Virginia Watch in July that despite the Grants Pass ruling, other constitutional challenges to camping bans can still be raised.
Elrick Rose of Morgantown was one of at least two homeless people who spoke out against the ban at the meeting.
“When I heard about this ordinance, I was scared,” he told the council. “More scared than I normally am every night. Being homeless is not a choice. We’re not here because we want to inject. We’re not here because we’re lazy.”
He further said that the ordinance under discussion makes him feel unappreciated or unwelcome in the city and that the ordinance would make challenges against him “insurmountable.”
Dozens of cities across the country have passed or considered similar camping bans. two months after the Supreme Court ruling. The new bans come after the United States saw a 12% increase last year, the highest reported level since the US began conducting “point in time” counts of homeless people in 2007.
The cities of Wheeling and Parkersburg also passed ordinances last year banning public camping.
Morgantown’s law would go into effect 30 days after the law passes, provided the city has an emergency shelter that is open and accepting new people.
A representative for Mountain State Justice said Tuesday that a petition would be filed for a referendum on the ordinance so it could be repealed or put to a vote in the city’s elections next year.
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