The Elmira City Council passed a camping ordinance on Monday night. The law is meant to address the homelessness epidemic in the city.
Elmira residents packed the city courthouse and spoke to councilmembers during the public comment portion. Most of the speakers were against the measure and asked the city not to pass it. But some spoke in favor of the bill.
The bill prohibits camping anywhere in the city that is not considered a “family camping” site. The bill defines family camping as temporary, recreational camping on a property owned or rented by a family and is a legal residence. Family is defined to include minor children, child guests and their parents or legal guardians.
“This law is to get people off the streets, to keep the public safe, to get the encampments out of the city of Elmira, get these people in the housing that they need and the treatment that they need,” said Elmira Mayor Daniel Mandell. “It's a way of being compassionate [on] one end, but having a stick there in case they decide they're not going to do this and keep presenting a public safety issue to our constituents.“
The “stick” referred to by the mayor is the penalty portion of the law, which can include up to a $1,000-dollar fine and one year in jail.
The mayor said the fines and jail time are up to the courts to sentence and enforce once an unhoused person is issued an appearance ticket.
The new bill changed the amount of time allotted to the Chemung County Department of Social Services in order to respond to the city’s discovery of a prohibited campsite from 48 hours to “whenever feasible”. Mandell said the ordinance defines feasible as a time convenient for the department.
“If it's an emergency, then it may be as soon as possible. But we had to put some type of wording in there that makes it convenient for them to get out there, to address it,” said Mandell.
Mandell said the city is looking at housing options to place people after they are removed from unauthorized campsites. He mentioned the apartments at Woodlawn Court and Heritage Park, along with supportive housing projects such as Reynolds Way Apartments and the Salvational Army housing project at the former Patch Park playground.
The mayor also said while he hopes people can avoid jail, it can help get the homeless the care they need.
“The jail also has resources in there,” Mandell said. “We've become more of a triage, instead of a penal institution where they can get the medical and mental health they need and substance abuse health that they need.”
The measure failed to pass last summer after public outcry and appeals to the city council. Two councilmembers, Nicholas Grasso and Corey Cooke, moved to table the measure at the Aug. 12 council meeting, until it could be reviewed, rewritten and include talks with community stakeholders.
According to Mayor Mandell and Chemung County Legislator Brent Stermer, a homeless task force was created between county and city officials at the Department of Human Services, county Legislature, city of Elmira's Community Development Department, Elmira City School District, Elmira’s mayoral office and community organizations such as His Haven. However, it is not clear how often the group meets, if it helped draft the new ordinance, and whether their meetings are open to the public. There is no public information about the task force listed on county or city websites.
WSKG reached out to Mindy Banfield, commissioner of social services with the Chemung County Department of Human Services for more information and did not hear back in time for this report.
During Monday’s meeting, the measure passed in a 5-2 vote. Grasso and Cooke objected to the new version of the bill and voted against the measure again as it is currently written.
“How are we going to penalize people who are living under bridges and in parks that don't have any money to survive? Ultimately, it's to get them in jail," expressed Grasso. "The mayor says it's not. But you don't pay a fine, you don't show up to court, there's going to be a warrant issued for your arrest, and you're going to wind up in jail.”
The new law goes into effect once it is filed with the New York Department of State.
Last year, 1,357 people experiencing homelessness received services in Chemung County.