Amendment to Chapter 24

(a) Definitions
For the purposes of Section 24-31, the following definitions shall apply:“To camp” means to pitch, erect, or occupy a Campsite or to use Camp Materials, or both, for the
purposes of, or to facilitate, outdoor sheltering, either temporarily or permanently.“Campsite” means any place where a tent, tarp, or other temporary structure is established for the
purpose of maintaining an outdoor shelter.“Camp Materials” means items used to establish or facilitate occupancy of a Campsite, including
tents, tarps, or other temporary structures, as well as large furniture, stoves, and other cooking
instruments.

This ordinance will effect anyone who is unsheltered, and unable to find shelter.
Should you find yourself without shelter for any reason, any attempt to protect yourself from weather regardless of the season or the danger will make you subject to this law.

“Emergency Shelter Space” means a City-authorized location, within the City of Salem or within 15 miles from the nearest border of Salem, providing temporary shelter or alternative sleeping space practically available to persons experiencing homelessness. Emergency Shelter Space shall be at a shelter, housing accommodation, or alternative sleeping space that maintains policies and procedures for
accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This definition of Emergency shelter space includes shelters up to 15 miles from Salem's border.
Though 15 miles may seem small, this ordinance considers shelter capacity in towns as far away as Ipswich, Stoneham, Boston and
Revere as part of our local bed capacity.
If this ordinance passes, this means that the city will be at liberty to sweep a 20 person encampment if 10 beds are available in Wenham, and 10 are available in Melrose.

If you have ever moved across the state, think of how long it took for you to get basic things like your primary care provider moved, your mail forwarded, or your prescriptions moved to a new pharmacy.
Now imagine that you've been relocated without most of your belongings, have no transportation, and are in an unfamiliar area in a dangerous part of town, unsure if the emergency shelter bed will be offered to you again tomorrow.

Witch City Action's second largest expense is transportation, behind shelter. We have spent over 1,000 dollars over the past year on transportation to and from shelters, appointments and pharmacies.
An uber just back to Salem from 15 miles away can cost nearly 40 dollars.

(b) Purpose

(i) It is the purpose of this Ordinance to promote public health, public safety, general welfare, and the economic health and well-being of Salem, its workers, visitors, and residents, including individuals experiencing homelessness, by prohibiting unsanctioned camping and the dangerous and unsafe conditions surrounding such Campsites.

Wording like this fails to take into account the dangerous and unsafe conditions of trying to survive outdoors without shelter. If the shelter system were working as intended, campsites would not have to exist. This implies that campsites are an alternative to the shelter system, as opposed to a direct result of its failure.
Without addressing the underlying issues throughout the shelter system, this amendment brings into question if the unhoused have a right to any self-determination whatsoever.

(ii) The Ordinance seeks to improve access to housing and recovery services by restoring access to public spaces, the public right-of-way,and offer an available shelter and available unit to people experiencing homelessness in Salem, who live in campsites, and to better provide persons experiencing homelessness who live in campsites with housing space and emergency shelter space and provide reasonable transit access, and to connect people with supportive services that they so choose to recieve. It is also the purpose of this Ordinance to protect the rights of individuals related to their personal property and to treat such
property with respect and consideration.
(iii) This Ordinance shall apply to all Campsites and camping on public property, including, but not limited to, streets, sidewalks, and public rights-of-way.

Paragraphs like this remind us of what the real intent of this ordinance is. By equating homelessness with criminality, the ordinance hopes to further criminalize the very act of being homeless.

It's important to ask, if the unhoused people in our town are so dangerous, and are guilty of crimes so heinous as human trafficking, why haven't they been arrested for it...? Surely if these people are so evil, we wouldn't have to invent a new crime to find them guilty of something. Especially considering the 24 hour surveillance active in encampments such as the one by south river.

The fact of the matter is that the city has no right to arrest people simply trying to survive, and is now attempting to manufacture a crime to ensure that the unhoused become criminals.

(c) Unlawful Camping on Public Property
It is unlawful for any person to camp or maintain a Campsite or Camp Materials in or on any public property or in the public right-of-way, including, but not limited to, any street, sidewalk, school or public park, unless specifically authorized by the City or during a Period When Shelter Is Unavailable, subject to the restrictions and regulations specified by this Section.

(d) Unlawful Camping on Private Property
Unless specifically authorized by the City or during a Period When Shelter Is Unavailable, it is unlawful for any person to camp or maintain a Campsite or Camp Materials upon private property in the City for more than 48 hours unless allowed by the City’s Zoning Code as a permitted Commercial Recreation (Outdoor) or Nonprofit Outdoor Recreational Facilities use. This section shall not apply to camping activities conducted by minors at or in the yard of their own or their guardian’s residence for recreational purposes.

This is what we expected from this ordinance. A complete citywide prohibition of self-made shelter, regardless of the danger that being unsheltered poses. This is in no uncertain terms a policy that allows for the sweeping of campsites, and the seizing of the property of unhoused people.
The provision of 48 hours to clean up a campsite is particularly egregious, especially considering the amendment stipulates that there must be an offer to drop someone off at a shelter likely several miles from their campsite. How will they get back to clean it up?

Displacing encampments are harmful to the unhoused community. A Journal of American Medical Association study shows sweeps “have been found to lead to substantial increases in overdose deaths, hospitalizations and life-threatening infections as well as hinder access to medications for opioid use disorder (along with other detrimental impacts).” Sweeps cause people to lose essential and valuable items that cannot always be replaced and rip people from jobs, lifesaving medications, and long-term housing opportunities.
This amendment was fashioned after Mayor Wu's ordinance which allowed for the sweep of Mass and Cass. After the sweep, vital resources were lost. The Engagement Center on Atkinson Street provided substance use, mental health, and housing assistance is now closed. AHOPE is one of the only options for accessing these services in the neighborhood now, which has seen a “20% increase” after the encampment was destroyed. Essential resources such as social workers and therapists are now unable to find displaced residents of the encampment to connect them with care.It begs the question, whose health and safety is being prioritized?

(e) Restrictions on Unlawful Camping During A Period When Shelter Is Unavailable(i) The prohibitions against Campsites and camping in 24-31(c) and 24-31(d) shall not apply during a Period When Shelter Is Unavailable.

Though this part of the amendment may appear to soften the blow, We must remind ourselves that places as far away as Ipswich and Boston are considered for our local bed capacity. If there is a bed in Melrose, regardless of how far that is from your support system, your job, your doctor, or your pharmacy, you are now banned from taking action to ensure your survival within Salem city limits.

(ii) City officials shall maintain a list of identified Emergency Shelter Spaces with existing capacity, which is updated daily and is communicated upon updating to the Salem Police Department, Health Department, Council on Aging, Veterans Service Officer, and community nonprofits and other agencies, organizations, and entities who work directly with persons experiencing homelessness. The list shall be posted on the city's website, and at any Salem based shelter, shall include the date of the posting, and any site regulation that may present an obstacle for admittance.

This is actually a wonderful idea!
It is extremely difficult to verify bed availability in shelters around the area, especially day-of, when emergencies happen. A proposal to identify emergency shelters and keep a list of their capacity could be an excellent step in the right direction.

(iii) During a Period When Shelter Is Unavailable, or when a Campsite is specifically authorized by the City, a Campsite or use of Camp Materials must comply with existing state and local laws to ensure public health and safety of those in and around the Campsite.

(iv) During any Period When Shelter Is Unavailable, the City, through the Board of Health or its Agent, the Police Department, the Fire Department, and the Department of Inspectional Services, is hereby authorized to promulgate any additional regulations relative to the time, place, and manner for camping and for the density of Campsites on either public or private property, in order to protect public health, maintain access to the public right-of-way, protect private property, and support the effective operation of facilities such as schools, shelters, and health care institutions during such periods.

While the above clause may imply that encampments are safe from sweeps so long as there is no shelter capacity, this nullifies that sentiment entirely, by allowing the city to break up an encampment citing health concerns.

The fact of the matter is that it is simply impossible to live in a tent safely. Public health concerns are often used as a way to justify sweeping encampments, which is counterproductive, costly, and harmful.

There will always be a health concern so long as people are forced to live outside.
The solution to the health hazard of homelessness is not to ban tents, which creates even more dangerous conditions when people are forced to brave the elements with no shelter to speak of, but to provide adequate housing.

(f) Offer of Shelter
(i) In the event of a violation of this Ordinance, the City shall provide, or cause to be provided, an offer of available Emergency Shelter Space to an individual experiencing homelessness and must inform that individual that transportation to available Emergency Shelter Space is available. The City shall furnish or cause to be furnished said transportation, which may be public transportation. Before making a referral, the city shall ensure space is available for a reasonable period of time.

Though this may seem to be a beneficial clause in the ordinance, it says nothing of if the individual is actually able to use the available bed.
Often people sleeping on the street have been banned from other shelters, cannot use them due to it being physically unsafe for them, or would be forced to abandon their personal belongings or pets based on certain shelter policies.
Furthermore, the available bed could be as far away as Ipswich, with no mention of how they might return if their bed is denied the next night.

(g) Storage of Property
(i) The Salem Police Chief shall establish, and from time to time amend, a City Storage Program Policy not inconsistent with this ordinance.

(ii) In the event of a violation of this Ordinance, the City shall offer and provide storage for personal belongings consistent with the City Storage Program Policy. The City Storage Program Policy shall provide for the storage of Eligible Property, define at its sole discretion property that is eligible for storage, and provide clear instructions on how individuals with property in storage may regularly access and recover their belongings.
(iii) The City Storage Program Policy will also provide that for property at a Campsite in violation
of this Ordinance and that is not claimed by any person within 72 hours of it being deemed by the
City as being unclaimed, City staff will assess whether the property is abandoned property or an individual’s temporarily unattended property through reasonable and documented attempts to identify the property owner. Property determined by City staff to pose an immediate health or safety risk is subject to immediate disposal.(iv) The City shall store Eligible Property determined, pursuant to 24-31(g)(i), to be temporarily unattended Eligible Property under the City Storage Program Policy. For temporarily unattended property that is not Eligible Property under the City Storage Program Policy, the Inspectional Services Department shall either, at the director or their designee’s sole discretion, post notice for 72 hours prior to the removal of the unattended property not eligible for City storage or temporarily store, for at least 72 hours, the unattended property and post notice as to how to recover it.

(v) City officials shall provide a written copy of the City Storage Program Policy when providing
an offer of storage, which shall be made available in any language required pursuant to the City’s
Language Access Policy.

(vi) In the event of a violation of this Ordinance, should an individual leave the area of a Campsite without their belongings, City staff shall store eligible property in accordance with the City’s Storage Program Policy and this section.

(vii) In the event of lost property subject to the City’s Storage Program Policy, individuals who
wish to bring a claim for such lost property shall utilize the City’s existing process for submitting claims. No fees may be charged for the processing of claims submitted pursuant to this subsection of the Ordinance.

This clause about item storage seems good at a first glance. Storage is a major issue for members of the unhoused community, especially for those living in shelters who often have a limit for how many belongings they are allowed to own.
However, this only applies to what someone might be able to clean up of their campsite in 48 hours, which is a remarkably small amount of time.

How long did your last move take?
How much did it cost to transport your items?
Did you have to leave behind anything that you miss?

Furthermore, with the provision of sending people to shelters up to fifteen miles outside of Salem's borders, it is unreasonable to think that someone with no housing would be able to make frequent trips back and forth to Salem in order to access their belongings, while staying in a shelter miles away.

(j) Penalty for Violations
Individuals in violation of this Ordinance may be subject to penalties. This Ordinance shall be enforced by the Salem Police Department, the Salem Board of Health or its Agent or their designees, the Salem Department of Inspectional Services, and the Salem Fire Department, as well as any sworn law enforcement agency empowered to make an arrest within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Salem. Any of the following penalties may apply:

a. All enforcement methods authorized by law, excluding fines for the unhoused, but including, issuance of a warning, G. L. c. 40, s.21, or enforcement authorized by G. L. c. 272, s.59 (ordinances or Regulations Relating to Streets, Reservations or Parkways; Alcoholic beverages; Profanity; Arrest Without a Warrant) if the Salem Police or other duly authorized officer on scene determines a violation of G. L. c. 272, s. 59 has occurred in their presence.

This ordinance allows arrests.
G. L. c. 272, s.59 allows for making arrests without a warrant. The enforcement of this ordinance is extremely vague, and could result in jail time simply for the crime of having nowhere else to go.