As cities change camping ordinances, Laconia considers enforcement of sleeping in public

LACONIA — Changes to a Manchester city ordinance, prompted by a Supreme Court decision handed down at the beginning of July, have city councilors considering how they should direct camping enforcement efforts in the city. 

An opinion issued by SCOTUS in April and decided at the end of June in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson et. al. stated the Oregon city did not violate the Eighth Amendment rights of people experiencing homelessness by arresting or ticketing people for sleeping outside, even when there are no alternatives available to them. Following that ruling, some municipalities have made changes to local ordinances regarding encampments in public places.

“It was a case that was brought from an individual that was unsheltered at the time and it was a court case against the city,” Det. Eric Adams said July 25 in a meeting of the Government Operations and Ordinances Committee. “Mainly because the city was taking enforcement on moving unsheltered individuals, not allowing them to camp on public ground.”

The decision gives municipalities broader authority in enforcing ordinances related to camping on sidewalks and public parks, but Adams said civil rights advocacy group American Civil Liberties Union suggests towns and cities tread lightly. 

“Cities and towns have the authority to move someone off of public property is really what it comes down to,” Adams said. “The ACLU did say that they understand the judgment, but yet, they’re also cautioning cities and towns to do it ethically and there are federal guidelines on moving and removing camps.”

Adams works in the Prevention Enforcement Treatment program in the city. The program is based on the belief that first responders trained in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and substance use disorder will be able to deal with people experiencing substance misuse in a more humane and effective manner. The program focuses on linking people misusing substances with community resources to help them overcome their problems and avoid recidivism.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision, the City of Manchester removed a section of their city ordinance on camping which directed law enforcement officials to make thorough efforts to assist an individual to find a shelter, if beds are available. 

That directive was time-consuming for individual police officers, who needed to assist an individual in collecting their personal belongings, finding an open bed at a shelter, ensuring that person’s eligibility to stay in a shelter — some shelters require those staying in them to be sober, not be in a domestic violence deferred prosecution program and not to be a felon — which equated to a lot of time spent navigating the system.

“The issue here in Laconia is we don’t have those,” Adams said. “In Manchester they definitely have a lot more shelter beds.”

Adams recommended councilors wait to take a stronger stance on ordinance enforcement until they see if the ACLU will insert itself in the Manchester discussion. He also said infrastructure for moving people experiencing homelessness out of public areas in Laconia is not robust.

“It gives us more opportunity for enforcement — it’s like a double-edged sword,” he said.

“It’s great to be able to move them if need be for sidewalk safety and allowing families to come to our public parks. The issue is, where do they go?”

But the problem has developed locally to a point of concern, Adams noted. The number of individuals coming into Laconia without a place to stay is increasing and he’s received reports of the free bus operated by the Community Action Program being one of their avenues of introduction to the city.

“We have seen a large uptick over the past, probably, year in unsheltered individuals and families coming here,” he said. “Just got word the other day from one of our lieutenants that he ran across someone from Massachusetts, and then another from, I believe it was Ossipee, and they said that a friend dropped them off.

“I heard information about the new free bus, which I think is a good thing because there are people that use it to actually go to doctors appointments and go to work that don’t have transportation,” he said.

“There was a complaint made to the city manager and the mayor and then the person called me as well to talk about, he had heard and seen that there were people taking busloads of that free bus and coming up here and staying.”

Adams is in contact with leadership at CAP, he said, looking for detailed information regarding the number of individuals using the bus over the last four or five months. He said they keep track of that figure and also track information regarding an individual's place of origin as part of a system which places people experiencing homelessness onto a waitlist for housing. 

“I’m working with the CAP program right now to try to really figure out how many individuals that have come here that are not from here,” he said. “It’s a challenge — people are transient.”

But Adams said the city would be wise to avoid drawing the attention of the ACLU.

“I definitely would advise the council to tread lightly on that just because if we put a hammer down and really become heavy, heavy on enforcement, that’s going to draw attention from the ACLU that I don’t think we really need,” Adams said. “We do have a lot of great resources in place that are working to make sure that we are trying to get people housed as fast as possible, but also to work with them to make sure they’re not becoming an issue in the enforcement part.”

But in the meantime, there are numerous groups and individuals devoted to helping the city alleviate the problem. Adams pointed to the street outreach teams, comprised of employees of social service agencies, who work with unhoused individuals in person. He said a new police department social worker position could coordinate efforts with the street outreach teams, and noted the development of housing would make a big impact. 

“Do I think that there is an opportunity here to do some more enforcement? Most definitely,” he said. “We are at a point we definitely need to do more enforcement and I know the chief has already been setting things up for that — there is a lot of open use, there is a lot of flagrant disrespect for our community and that needs to be addressed.”