SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Council on Tuesday moved forward with finalizing the city's "Unsafe Camping Ordinance," which bans homeless encampments in certain public areas of the city.
Under the ordinance, it would be considered a misdemeanor for unhoused citizens to have tents in many city areas, such as near parks, shelters, schools, and trolley stations.
On June 13, the City Council approved the ordinance in a 5-4 vote.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, beaches were added to the list of city areas where encampments would be prohibited. The amendment to the ordinance was opposed by some councilmembers, but the ban was set to proceed as planned.
Mayor Todd Gloria issued the following statement following the meeting:
“I want to thank the majority of the City Council for reaffirming its decision to pass the Unsafe Camping Ordinance and address the tent encampments that are posing a health and safety risk to the public.
When the taxpayers of this city are expending over $200 million to provide homelessness services, it is right and appropriate for us to set the expectation that people experiencing homelessness must avail themselves of the services we are providing. Enforcement of the ordinance will coincide with bringing online hundreds more shelter opportunities through our Safe Sleeping program and my pursuit of measures to cut bureaucratic red tape to speed our homelessness response.
I look forward to signing the ordinance into law this week.”
The ordinance will not go into effect until at least 30 days from July 1, when a new “Safe Sleeping” area on 20th and B streets is expected to open.
The mayor previously stated that starting July 30, police will ask anyone living in tents to move their encampment from certain public spaces.
Sleeping bags would still be allowed from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., as long as they are not an imminent threat to public safety. One example of that would be if there are drugs in the sleeping bag or if someone is using drugs.
