CAMDEN, SC (WIS) – In the City of Camden, you can no longer live, sleep or shelter on public property, according to a council unanimously adopted an ordinance Tuesday.

The ordinance describes it as “camping,” which means using public property to sleep, prepare food, set up shelter and/or store personal property. If you violate any of these things, you may receive a trespassing warning, and if you return or continue to do so, you may be arrested.

Matt Dewitt, Camden’s city manager, described the ordinance as “an opportunity to help those in need within the community.”

He said the ordinance is modeled after similar ordinances in Columbia and Charleston.

Camden isn’t the only municipality in the Midlands to recently pass an ordinance like this. The city of Newberry recently passed a similar ordinance.

Despite what Dewitt described as the “sentiment in the city,” he said, “We’re not trying to ban homeless people. »

Newly elected Sen. Jeffrey Graham, D-Camden, spoke with WIS News about the city’s camping ordinance.

“Yes, they can receive a warning. Yes, they can give them notice,” Graham said. “Yes, they can be fined, but the reality is we need to connect them to the services that are out there because we have a community that cares, it’s more our individual churches or our nonprofits, but it allows that conversation to happen and it also keeps an account.

Dewitt said this order allows officers to show compassion by first issuing a warning if someone is seeking shelter or sleeping on public property, then officers can give advice on where people can go to receive help.

He said there are many resources the city supports financially, like the United Way and Food for the Soul. Dewitt said many unhoused people suffer from mental health issues, so compassionate enforcement will be a priority.

“This is the best way for nonprofits and municipal law enforcement to work together toward a common goal, helping those who are unhoused in the community,” Graham said.

But some that WIS News 10 spoke with disagreed with the order, including one of the resources Dewitt mentioned, United Way.

Angie Shirley, homeless outreach coordinator at United Way in Camden, said it was a “slap in the face” for all their work.

She said the city will quickly realize how full current homeless shelters and transitional housing programs are.

“I will not stand here, I will go to jail for them, I will do whatever it takes to change this, but this is not the answer and we need to come together and find a better solution because this is not not the answer,’” says Shirley.

Donny Supplee, president of the United Way in Camden, tells WIS they have a great relationship with the city and the police department, but he disagrees with the ordinance.

He described it as a “bump in the way” for the city. He expressed confidence that it will work despite the current division.

“It’s not fair to our community members who live outside, they say this will give them access to their resources and they’ll find out very quickly and they already know it won’t “There’s no resources for them,” Shirley said.

Dewitt told WIS the city didn’t want to arrest anyone and that wasn’t the purpose of the ordinance.

From now on, he said city officials will meet with police officers to train them on how to speak with people in violation of the code so they can ask them for help before anything else.

“This is the start of a new conversation, where our leaders and our nonprofits can have a real dialogue with the people we are trying to serve together, before we have no way to track and follow up. coordinate,” Graham said.

Feel more informed, prepared and connected with WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to our email newsletterAnd download our applications. Do you have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.

Copyright 2024 WIS. All rights reserved.