Council seeks tougher panhandling rules
Stricter limitations also wanted for homeless encampments, drawing concern of advocates
Houston City Council on Wednesday delayed consideration of bans on unauthorized encampments in public places and panhandling in the roadway after council members offered a litany of amendments to make the city’s rules regarding homeless people more restrictive.
The council members’ proposals include making it a misdemeanor to solicit on the sidewalk, sleep in the doorways of residential or commercial buildings or use a device on public property “upon which a human may lie, recline, sit, kneel or stand.”
Those limitations would add to those already in the city’s proposed expansion of its panhandling ban and ordinance prohibiting on public property the assembly of a temporary structure for human habitation, use of a heating device or accumulation of personal property that would not fit in a container measuring 1 cubic yard.
“What I’m hearing from resi-
dents in downtown — not only residents but also employees in downtown — is they’re concerned that when they come out of their building, there are individuals who are panhandling or sleeping in the doorway of their building,” said District I Councilman Robert Gallegos, who was one of four council members to offer amendments.
Gallegos’ amendments seek to bar sleeping in doorways, as well as panhandling on sidewalks and within 8 feet of doorways.
District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig’s proposals would bar panhandling on sidewalks, and wants to expand the definition of an encampment to include any item that an individual cannot easily transport alone.
At-Large Councilman Mike Knox wants to outlaw unauthorized for-profit commercial activities under overpasses, excluding parking, further specify restrictions on panhandling in a roadway and remove city authorization of any charitable solicitation on public streets.
District J Councilman Mike Laster wants the definition of an encampment to include the unauthorized use of devices for reclining or sitting on public property. Advocates concerned
Council did not discuss the amendments before delaying their votes by two weeks, and Mayor Sylvester Turner said he had not reviewed them.
“We’re always looking for ways to make the ordinance better, and I think in this process, we certainly want to take into account everyone’s views and their inputs,” he said.
Homeless advocates, however, worried the rules would fall short of council’s expectations while exposing the city to potential legal challenges.
“The (encampment) ordinance is very problematic as written now. The amendments make it more vulnerable to legal challenge in my view … and make it even harder for any homeless person to be able to comply,” said Tristia Bauman, a senior attorney for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. “I think there are potentially some Eighth Amendment problems with what’s being proposed because it leaves no public space where homeless people can perform an activity that every human must perform in order to be able to survive.”
The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Working with partners
Bauman framed it as crucial for the city to provide sufficient shelter space to accommodate everyone displaced by the new rules.
She added that a ban on property that does not fit in a container measuring 1 cubic yard could impact homeless individuals with a wheelchair or other medical equipment, for example, raising additional constitutional concerns.
Marc Eichenbaum, special assistant to the mayor for homeless initiatives, said the city is working with its partners, including the Star of Hope and the Salvation Army, to ensure there is sufficient indoor shelter capacity.
“It might not be a bed, but they’ll get mats and find space on the floor,” he said.
The mayor’s office also is planning to build “low-level” shelters under highway overpasses or on private property.
Turner said Wednesday he did not know if the first shelter would be operational by the time the encampment ban goes into effect, 30 days after City Council approval.
Houston is not alone in seeking to mitigate the impact of homelessness, said Paul Boden, executive and organizing director for the San Francisco-based Western Regional Advocacy Project.
“This is the response of local governments … to make homeless people disappear,” Boden said. “When you put all (of those restrictions) together, you’re basically saying, ‘I don’t want to see you.’ ” Practical outcome
Heightened local concern about homelessness comes after the homeless population in Harris and Fort Bend counties fell 57 percent between 2011 and 2016 to roughly 3,600, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.
As for panhandling, Bauman said prohibiting the activity on a roadway is less concerning than doing so on a sidewalk, which she thinks would be too broad to survive a constitutional challenge.
Boden focused on the practical outcome.
“I think we can continue to criminalize panhandling, and people that are desperate are going to continue to panhandle,” he said. “They keep redefining what it means to be annoying. I don’t see what that gets you.”