Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Des Moines is looking to ban camping and reduce the number of days people have to remove their belongings from public spaces.
Proposed ordinances that take what city leaders call a "harder-line" approach to addressing homelessness would end Des Moines' complaint-based system of dealing with homeless campsites. City staff would be empowered to remove and clean them up on their own initiative.
City Council member Chris Coleman, chair of the Homeless Coordinating Council, said the policies are meant to increase the city's effectiveness in getting people off the street and into programs to better their lives.
"And I know it's hard to live on the streets," Coleman said. "It's not easy. It's not healthy, a lot of times it's not safe. But we have too many people (who feel like) that's a better situation than moving into one of our shelters, and that's a problem.
"And so we need to improve our shelters and make it not quite so easy to live on the streets. We want it to be easier to live where there are services and programs that can build their lives better."
The proposed changes drew criticism from one council member, Josh Mandelbaum, and from the head of a Polk County organization that works with homelessness service providers, who said the county lacks alternatives, including enough shelter space and affordable housing options.
The proposals follow the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that people experiencing homelessness can be arrested and fined for sleeping in public spaces.
The 6-3 decision, the most significant from the court on homelessness in decades, overturned a lower court's ruling that enforcing camping bans when shelter space is unavailable is cruel and unusual punishment.
It comes amid a more than 12% increase in homelessness to a total of more than 650,000 people in the U.S. in 2023, representing the largest unhoused population since the U.S. Department of Urban Planning and Development began tracking it in 2007.
Coleman said unsheltered people are becoming more visible and more concerning to Des Moines residents. The latest figures from a semiannual point-in-time count in Polk County, conducted over a 24-hour period in January, showed 715 people experiencing homelessness ― an 11% jump from the previous year.
Coleman said Des Moines is at a "tipping point" that, once passed, could result in a situation like those in some larger cities, where homeless populations are "out of control." Also, he said, a small percentage of people who are homeless are "disregarding our property, shunning our rules, and disrespecting our people."
"And we have to be very serious about sounding the alarm that it's important to act. To do more, fund more, provide more and hold people accountable more than ever," he said. "Or the tipping point will happen."
The item will come before the City Council on Monday, July 22, in an added work session and special council meeting following a continuation of last week's council meeting, which was postponed as a tornado swept through the Des Moines metro.
The ordinances would go into effect 14 days after approval, Des Moines Assistant City Manager Malcolm Hankins said.
What would a changed Des Moines ordinance on camp cleanups include?
Hankins said the city's proposed ordinance changes have two distinct elements.
This first involves altering the city's current encroachment policy, which says structures, tents or shelter items left untended on public property can be removed and disposed of under City Code.
Under the current rules, encroachment cleanups are primarily prompted by complaints from community members. The owners of the items have 10 days to remove their belongings before the city's Neighborhood Inspections Division ― a department whose duties include overseeing condemned buildings and junk abatement ― clears the site.
Should the proposed ordinance pass, the city wouldn't need to wait for a complaint. Instead, a team of city staff such as police officers and public works employees would likely take action proactively depending on resources, Hankins said. The city also would reduce the time owners have to remove their items to three days. Any order still could be appealed within those three days.
After three days, city staff would remove any property remaining. People's items of value would be stored by the city without charge for up to 30 days, Hankins said.
"I think this is a place where the city could improve by storing personal possessions rather than discarding" them, Coleman said.
The second proposed change is an ordinance that prohibits people from camping in public spaces, including sidewalks, streets, alleys, parks and under bridges.
People found occupying a campsite in a public space would have 24 hours to clean it up. After that, the city could remove the campsite and personal items. As with encroachment cleanups, belongings of value would be stored for 30 days.
People who violate the rule could be fined up to $120, the proposed ordinance states.
Hankins said the camping rules wouldn't apply to designated campsites in city parks or during special events or other times when the city authorizes camping. He said, ideally, the ordinances would prompt people to clean up their campsites so that the city wouldn't have to.
The city will continue to hold off on notices and camp cleanups when the National Weather Service forecasts wind chill below 10 degrees over 48 hours, as well as during the winter and summer point-in-time counts.
Council member also wants to break down barriers to shelter use
Coleman said the city is simultaneously working to remove common barriers to accessing shelter, such as concerns over storage of belongings, separation of people from their pets, and lack of transportation.
In addition to providing 30-day storage, the city is working to formalize partnerships with organizations such as the Animal Rescue League of Iowa to host pets and work more closely with local service providers and shelter operators to connect with people who are camping in public spaces.
Some service providers already get a heads-up from the city about encroachment complaints, allowing the providers to link up with people experiencing homelessness before the cleanup occurs.
"Breaking down the obstacles (to) going to the shelter is more important to me than the ordinance," Coleman said. "So we gotta do both sides of the coin at the same time."
He said he expects pushback on the ordinance, adding that community feedback is important to consider. But he said there needs to be a call to action, which means challenging service providers to step up and showing "tough love" to those who are experiencing homelessness.
"This is about helping people. And we are not helping people when we let them perpetually live on our streets and in our woods," Coleman said. "We can be a better community on that. But it takes both a carrot and a stick, and we need to be good at both of those things."
Angie Arthur, executive director of Homeward, Polk County's homelessness planning organization, said she understands the concern about people who are homeless sleeping outside, but says the metro lacks enough resources such as shelter space and affordable housing units. She pointed to a study published in early 2024 that revealed Polk County needs about three times the funding it currently gives to housing, emergency shelter and other resources for people experiencing homelessness.
"So that becomes a challenge to be able to move from sheltered or unsheltered to a permanent housing when there's that significant gap," Arthur said.
For every 100 "extremely low-income households" looking for housing, there are 26 available, Arthur said.
"We can ask our service providers to do more," she said. "However, we need to have the investment in the community by the community, by our local governments, by the state government, and I would say even the federal government, to support the work that they do."
She added the organization's concern is that fines could become a long-term barrier to housing should the ordinances pass.
Mandelbaum called the proposed policy change process "abysmal," criticizing the city for letting service providers know about the proposal the same day it went live on the city's website and not allowing extensive council deliberation and public comment. He added it appears the proposals "will not house another person but they will criminalize and create more barriers for people getting housing."
Asked about pushback to the proposed policy, Coleman said: "I get very offended when, you know, people want to say that we're trying to criminalize homelessness. We are not," he said. "But we do have to have regulations and rules about people's behavior, and it's really important to me that we stress the difference."
Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.
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