WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Bloomington City Council committee-of-the-whole will discuss Ordinance 21-06, which would add protections for community members experiencing homelessness.
Highlights of the bill include at least a 15-day notice and sufficient housing requirements before the city can evict a person living in a camp.
The new bill comes after the office of the mayor issued two evictions to people experiencing homelessness at Seminary Square Park.
Forrest Gilmore, executive director of Beacon Inc. talked to WFHB in a phone interview earlier today regarding his thoughts on the proposed ordinance. But first, he described what service Beacon Inc. provides to the community.
“We’re a housing and service provider for people experiencing extreme poverty. We provide everything from the most basic of emergency resources all the way up to housing and employment support to help people get back on their feet,” said Gilmore.
“The core of it is decriminalizing sleeping. We currently criminalize sleeping in our community, and basically make it illegal to sleep outside,” he said. “For people who have no alternatives, where do they go?”
Councilmembers Matt Flaherty, Kate Rosenbarger and Isabel Piedmont-Smith sponsored the bill. Ordinance 21-06 would amend the Bloomington Municipal Code to add a new Chapter 2.87 entitled “Protections for People Experiencing Homelessness.”
The proposed bill is modeled after a similar ordinance in Indianapolis adopted in 2016.
The ordinance faces some opposition. The Bloomington Chamber of Commerce announced in a press release on Tuesday that it opposes the bill.
Erin Predmore, the chamber’s president and CEO, said in the release, “Over the past year we’ve heard increasing complaints and deep concerns voiced by members of the business community regarding encampments at Seminary Park and elsewhere. We must find an alternative way to support the needs of houseless residents that does not negatively impact local businesses, the jobs they provide, and the broader community.”
Other opponents have said that they would rather see legislation that tries to tackle long-term homelessness solutions. However, proponents of the bill argue that it does contain long-term proposals.
The ordinance says if there is insufficient housing to meet the needs of all members living in a camp, the city must wait until there is sufficient housing available prior to closing the camp.
It defines sufficient housing as permanent or transitional housing, which would not include emergency shelters.
In our interview, Gilmore discusses this idea and addresses the opposition the bill faces from the Chamber of Commerce.
“I’m clearly disappointed that the chamber would actively advocate for the criminalization of sleeping and push for the ongoing violations of people’s civil rights,” said Gilmore.
Gilmore offered his input on what he would like to see city officials do when it comes to addressing homelessness and adds his final thoughts before the council discusses the ordinance.
“The core of it, of course, is we don’t want to see anyone arrested for sleeping. We saw how horrible that was in December and then horrible again in January. It’s really an incredibly cruel practice that our city is engaging in, in order to deal with the most vulnerable people we can imagine sleeping within our view.” – Forrest Gilmore.
