DES MOINES, Iowa — A Summer-long saga found some finality Monday night after the Des Moines City Council voted to approve several new rules aimed at the city’s unhoused population.
“I think before it continues to get worse, because we’ve seen it grow, we’ve got to take a different stance,” Councilmember Joe Gatto, who represents Ward 4, told WHO-13.
Meanwhile, homeless advocates packed the chambers to try to lobby against the proposal that they said criminalizes homelessness.
It was a contentious meeting that had Mayor Connie Boesen slamming her gavel several times and members of the public yelling insults from the gallery. In the end, councilmembers passed amendments to the city’s Municipal Code that now make camping out on public property fineable, and makes it easier to trash abandoned property and remove encroachments.
Councilmember Josh Mandelbaum, who represents Ward 3, and At Large Councilman Mike Simonson, voted against both agenda items that encompassed a slew of changes.
“What we are criminalizing is sleeping outdoors,” said Mandelbaum during a lengthy comment on the amendments.
After the final vote, the meeting was temporarily interrupted by dozens of citizens shouting “shame” in unison. The chant could be heard reverberating by an overflow crowd packed into the hallway watching the proceeding on a live feed.
“I think that the community needs to have more empathy for the homeless people, the people who are unhoused,” Xavier Bradford, who was once homeless, told WHO-13’s Katie Kaplan. “I lived in those camps, I know how horrible they can be. However, I think we need to have more advocates to assist people when transitioning from some of those environments to a housing environment.”
While the new laws implement a $15 fine for public camping and other repercussions for not following the rules, Gatto said there has been a lot of “misinformation” about them, and that the ordinances also include a comprehensive plan that will benefit those struggling to find permanent shelter.
“We tried to clarify a lot of things,” he said afterward. “This is such a better process for our unhoused and it’s really going to provide some services for them, and that’s what we need to do.”
The new regulations also include transportation to shelters, three new outreach workers who will assist people who are currently in violation of the new rules, public portable bathrooms in several places around the city, a new “diversion fund” which will help people with the transition, and a way for people who are displaced to temporarily secure animals and belongings.
The city council first proposed the amendment that would ban camping on all public property in July. This was the third public meeting on the subject, which has drawn public outcry along the way.
Iowa State Patrol investigating suspicious parcel found at Lucas Building The changes are expected to go into effect next week.
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