LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — New ordinances will soon ban camping in public places in Clark County and the City of Las Vegas.
There was some debate over the Clark County ordinance before commissioners passed the measure on Tuesday.
The ordinance states that camping would be prohibited in certain places including:
- Any public right-of-way
- Any trail, park, or park facility
- Any public building, publicly-owned parking lot or publicly-owned land
- Any public property where camping obstructs or interferes with the intended public use of the property
You can read the full Clark County ordinance below.
Clark County Camping Ban Ordinance by jarah.wright on Scribd
Several senior citizens told commissioners that something needed to be done because they don't feel safe in their community.
"We are under siege. We have an affordable housing crisis and you put up these senior buildings in distressed areas where the only ones being distressed are the seniors," said Eleanor Abrante. "The homeless congregate around and prey on us. I've had three cars stolen, broken into. We've had catalytic converters taken. They come into our buildings. Nobody cares."
"In my neighborhood, there is a huge homeless camp. There have been fires. There have been robberies. I live in a 55+ community. In the last month, there have been at least three robberies, just in my community, a week. They break into storage sheds. They break into homes," Fran Amarez said. "I know that the legislature has worked on this and it just seems like the homeless population continues to grow."
According to both ordinances, a person will first be notified they are violating the ordinance. Then, they will be given information about the location and availability of homeless shelter services and direct that person to move to another location. If the person refuses to go to an available shelter or returns to the same area, they can be cited or arrested.
The county ordinance originally stated that people who violated the ordinance would be found guilty of a misdemeanor and spend up to six months in jail or be fined $1,000. After speaking with advocates across the valley, the language in the ordinance was changed to those found guilty could spend up to 10 days in jail.
Despite the change, several local leaders said the punishment might still be too harsh.
"Being homeless should not be a crime and this criminalizes homelessness," said Scott Rutledge, the Chairman of Hopelink of Southern Nevada. "It may not do so if we don't put anyone in jail. This could sit there as an ordinance and we would never put anyone in jail. But the first person we criminalize for actually being homeless, is that who we are as a community?"
"Our goal, for our whole section, we don't want to arrest anyone," said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Matt Kovacich, who oversees Metro's behavioral health unit. That includes homeless outreach teams. "We want to get them help. We want to get them to whatever means necessary to get them re-acclimated to society whether that's mental health assistance, housing assistance. We have social workers embedded in our unit from Clark County to help bridge that gap."
Commissioner William McCurdy II voiced concern that the county was acting too quickly by giving the green light to the ordinance, which is set to go into effect on Feb. 1, 2025.
"We still have projects that are in the pipeline but are not currently renovated or available yet. We just approved some of these projects but until they're online, I don't know. It doesn't make sense, to me, that we would adopt this," McCurdy said. "I just think we're in a really tough spot. We're spending more money than we can afford and more money than we're going to have in the future because a lot of that money was ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) dollars."
However, Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick pointed out that other jurisdictions in the valley and our neighbors in California already have or are about to have similar legislation on the books.
"In LA County, they were from over 45,000 (unhoused individuals) to 75,000 because they couldn't figure out how to force the issue that we have. Services, we want you to have them. We want them to try. If we're going to wait for every piece of infrastructure to be built, we'll be waiting a long time," Kirkpatrick said. "We've got to start somewhere."
One of the other jurisdictions that Kirkpatrick was referring to is the City of Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, the city council unanimously approved a camping ban ordinance.
There are a few differences between the city and county measures.
For example, with the city's ordinance, instead of serving jail time, a court may order a defendant to complete a rehabilitation program, specialty court program, or other treatment program that is designed to assist homeless people.
Back in September, city officials stated an anti-camping ordinance was originally approved in late 2019 and went into effect in Feb. 2020. However, that ordinance mainly targeted downtown and residential areas. This bill takes that further.
The city began looking at options to expand the ban after a June Supreme Court ruling.
Another difference is that the city's ordinance can be enforced if there is no bed space.
However, city officials said there is typically space at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center. Nevada Behavioral Health officials say that on average, about 860 people visit their facility every day to access services like a place to stay overnight, counseling, Medicaid/Medicare insurer identification, laundry, storage, charging stations, and notary services.
NBH officials say they want to add expanded services, including psychiatrist services, medication-assisted treatment, basic skills training, group therapy, and substance use disorder group treatment, in 2025.
You can read the full City of Las Vegas ordinance below.
Las Vegas City Council Camping Ban Ordinance by jarah.wright on Scribd
Both the county and city say they have multiple projects in the works and are trying to address the problem.
County leaders have approved more than $170 million for affordable housing. So far, the approved funding has been used to build and rehab more than 3,700 units dedicated to low-income families and seniors in the region.
There are also multiple resources to help those experiencing homelessness.
You can see county programs by clicking here and city programs by clicking here.
