Fountain Hills becomes latest Valley community to prohibit urban camping
The Fountain Hills Town Council, during an August meeting, passed ordinances prohibiting urban camping and standing in streets and medians.
The council is now exploring ways the town can partner with an organization to provide shelter beds so they can enforce the camping ban, but no partner group has been identified yet.
Three ordinances were proposed at the Aug. 22 meeting to address concerns raised in a June meeting about the unsheltered population in the region. A proposed ordinance prohibiting panhandling, which was nearly identical to an ordinance passed in Glendale last fall, failed.
Fountain Hills joins several cities in Central Arizona that prohibit urban camping, including Tempe and Phoenix, but the number of people experiencing homelessness in the town is drastically lower than in those cities.
Two unhoused people were counted in Fountain Hills in January during the Maricopa Association of Governments' annual point-in-time count. In the August meeting, council members said the number was more like four or five.
Law blocks standing in roadways and medians
An ordinance that passed 4-3 prohibits “standing or stopping in the roadway, medians, or areas adjacent to roadways where the speed limit is 35 mph or greater.” Emergency and maintenance workers are exempt from the rule.
Councilmember Peggy McMahon said it was disingenuous for the council to say the ordinance is only about safety since it was originally proposed in relation to people experiencing homelessness.
“I think this is indirectly targetting panhandlers,” McMahon said in the August meeting. “I think we have to be very very careful about that because they are a vulnerable, protected class.”
Phoenix has similar ordinances preventing someone from standing in medians and streets.
Tempe has an ordinance prohibiting people from lying or sleeping in streets or on sidewalks.
Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, has previously pushed legislation targeting panhandling. The most recent attempt was a bill proposed in January that aimed to prohibit people from asking for money from drivers stopped at red lights.
Urban camping ordinance not being enforced — yet
An ordinance that passed 5-2 will prohibit people from sleeping and camping in public roads. However, because of a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urban camping cannot be criminalized if there is no available shelter for people experiencing homelessness.
Mayor Ginny Dickey said the town is looking for an organization to partner with to provide shelter space — one hasn't been selected yet. Until an agreement is finalized, the ordinance will not be enforced.
Helen Rummel covers housing insecurity and homelessness for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at hrummel@gannett.com.
Coverage of housing insecurity on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fountain Hills becomes latest Valley community to ban urban camping
