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To prevent the homeless from sleeping in
parks, overpasses and other public and private property, the
Conroe City Council has approved an ordinance prohibiting
camping in the city.
The ordinance, approved unanimously by the
council at Thursday’s meeting, would prohibit camping on public
or private property in the city unless the individual has
written consent from the property owner. The ordinance does not
include designated camping or cooking area in city parks.
Those camping in non-designated areas will
be subject to fines of up to $500.
“The end result has yet to be determined,”
said Conroe Mayor Webb Melder. “At least the ordinance gives the
police department the authority to do what needs to be done.”
The new ordinance is expected to drive up
the homeless population at the Salvation Army in Conroe, the
county’s only homeless shelter, which already is turning people
away because beds are full. Capt. David Robinson, director for
the facility, said the agency is considering a capital campaign
to expand the shelter to include 40 beds for the working
homeless and 20 to 25 beds for transients.
“I think people don’t want homeless people
in their town,” Robinson said. “But there is no getting rid of
them.”
Robinson said the 20-bed men’s facility
has been filled nightly for more than a year, with many turned
away, and they average about 14 women a night in the 15-bed
unit. On those nights when the temperatures dip below 40
degrees, the facility allows all to stay and it has hosted up to
50 or 60 people a night.
“There are a lot of new faces and a lot of
people we haven’t seen in two or three years,” Robinson said.
“That’s how fragile a lot of people’s lives are. They live week
to week and if they miss a day a work, it throws their whole
lives off.”
Robinson said many of the homeless are day
laborers who were living in hotels until work dried up. He
estimates there are a group of about 20 to 25 homeless in Conroe
who prefer to live on the streets.
Representatives from the Montgomery County
Youth Services and Yahweh Street Ministries asked the Conroe
City Council to consider sponsoring a day site for the displaced
homeless to aid in obtaining GEDs, job searches, medical or
mental health services or transportation. Margie Taylor of
Montgomery County Youth Services said there are 450 homeless
youth in Montgomery County on a nightly basis that need help.
Peter Taraski said adopting a camping ordinance will not
eliminate the problem in Conroe.
“These are people we know that should be
getting a helping hand up instead of pushing them out,” said
Peter Taraski of Yahweh.
Councilman Jim Gentry asked city staff to
work with the agencies to assist with a day site.
The new ordinance was designed to give
police another tool to deal with transients in the city, who may
be committing crimes ranging from criminal mischief to burglary
and robbery, police officials said. It also will help deal with
public nuisance, such as creating unsanitary conditions,
interfering with business operations or creating fire hazards
from campfires.
“The purpose of the ordinance is to
maintain street, parks and other public and private areas within
the city in a safe, clean, sanitary and accessible condition in
order to adequately protect the health, safety and public
welfare of the community and to limit camping to circumstances
that do not create public and private nuisances or have adverse
public safety impact,” Sgt. Mark Walls said in a memo to
initiate the project.
Councilman Jay Ross Martin said he was
disheartened to see that tables and chairs in the downtown
amphitheater were removed because the homeless were using them
for beds.
“More people were going to sleep there
than were using it to eat sack lunches,” Martin said.
Currently, police could not issue a
trespassing warning against the homeless until they spoke to the
property owners and the owner agreed to press charges. With the
ordinance, police have the instant ability to address the
problems with individuals, said Deputy Chief Philip Dupuis.
“It will help us control some of the
homeless activities we have,” Dupuis said.
Dupuis said the Salvation Army offers a
homeless shelter in Conroe, but that participants must show a
drivers license and cannot be drunk or high. As a result, some
of the homeless wind up on city streets.
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