CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - The Champaign City Council is voting on a new public ordinance that would ban camping on all public property across the city.
While city officials say it's about safety, homeless advocacy groups argue that this could deepen a growing crisis.
"We have twice as many homeless residents with half as many emergency beds as we did ten years ago, and many of those emergency beds are slated to close this spring," said Danielle Chynoweth, the supervisor for Cunningham Township and chair of the Continuum Service Providers for the Homeless.
A Supreme Court ruling last summer now allows cities to enforce camping bans, but advocates say these rules are essentially bans on the homeless and harm more than they help.
Twenty-one cities across Illinois have considered similar bans. Many community members feel this ban will have a domino effect.
Those who are determined to be homeless will not be subject to fines or other legal action. However, the language in the ordinance is purposely vague, according to Champaign City's Attorney Thomas Yu.
"If this passes, people will go further and further into invisibility, and that will make them even more at risk of death in the harsh winter due to substance abuse, etcetera," Chynoweth said.
Many shelters are prepared to take in those in need for the winter, but come spring, there will be fewer options. Dozens of community members spoke during the meeting, urging the council the vote no, or even table the vote until there is a better plan.
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