(Written by Savannah Jones)
MORGANTOWN W.Va – Nonprofit legal services firm Mountain State Justice expressed their opposition to a proposed camping ban downtown in a letter to the Morgantown City Council on July 5.
Third Ward Councilor Louise Michael proposed expanding the camping ban mentioned in Sec. 941.05(c) of the Morgantown City Code from just parks to residential properties, city streets, alleyways and sidewalks at a council meeting on July 2.
Lindsey Jacobs said she is against the proposal.
Jacobs, the Advocacy and Access Program Director at Mountain State Justice, along with 10 other local organizations, called for the council to address more than just the symptoms of homelessness in an open letter.
“Public camping bans do not and cannot address the root causes of homelessness, which include but are not limited to poverty, violence, and disability,” the letter said.
Jacobs said the letter reiterates their continued opposition to camping bans, which they have been voicing since April.
“Camping bans don’t work because they can’t work. People who are alive require somewhere to be, so you can ban camping, but folks have to sleep somewhere,” she said. “Right now in Morgantown, we don’t have other places for people to sleep.”
Jacobs said she feels the council is conflating issues of homelessness and criminality with the expanded ban.
“They talk a lot about homelessness, I think because we’ve forced that conversation these past few months, but [Councilor] Michael reached for seemingly the only tool they feel like they have in their toolbox, which is punishing people for sleeping outside,” she said.
Although Jacobs is against the camping ban, she emphasized that her organization wishes to combat homelessness and other issues that stem from it. She said she feels an expanded camping ban would “dehumanize” those who are camping on the streets and wants to address the problem with the health and safety of the unhoused community in mind.
“I think there’s a misconception that we want to see people sleeping outside forever, and we don’t. We want to see people off the street as much the next person, just for different reasons,” she said.
Jacobs said Mountain State Justice encourages the use of “evidence-based solutions,” such as providing bathrooms and lockers for those who are unhoused, as well as providing appropriate shelter.
“The only solution to homelessness is sheltering folks, whether that’s at a low-barrier shelter, which we don’t have here in Morgantown, a shelter with enough beds for all the folks experiencing homelessness, which we don’t have in Morgantown, developing affordable housing, which we don’t have in Morgantown,” she said.
Jacobs said the issue of homelessness is not just the problem of the council but of all areas of government as well as the community.
She said she is part of several community groups that talk with those experiencing homelessness to address their needs on a personal level, as well as provide water and temporary shelter during the heat of the day.
Jacobs said she hopes to see several groups band together to solve the problem.
“Morgantown City Council is right when they say they can’t do this alone,” she said. “State, federal, local governments should all be working in concert to address the problem using evidence-based solutions, which they are not currently.”
The Morgantown City Council will meet again Tuesday, July 16 at 7 p.m.