Fairhope has long been known as a charming, picturesque city along the Mobile Bay where artists and writers converge to sharpen their craft, where crime isn’t a problem, and where folks seem relatively comfortable and content.
But in this city renowned for its flowers and homespun shops, lies a hidden concern about homelessness. And on Monday, the City Council took a very public step in becoming the latest city in the U.S. to adopt an ordinance largely prohibiting sleeping in their vehicles.
Critics are taking aim, saying Fairhope is attempting to criminalize homelessness.
“Frankly, it doesn’t seem like a very Fairhopish ordinance,” said Carol Gundlach, policy analyst with Alabama Arise, a non-profit organization that promotes ideas and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of poor people. “I would not expect that Fairhope is a place where a lot of homeless people are flocking in order to sleep in their cars.”
Fairhope’s explanation
Fairhope city leaders, such as the police chief, are adamant that the ordinance unanimously approved by the council is not a punitive strike against homelessness.
Instead, the city says its goal is to prevent scattershot camping that occurs summertime and during popular local events.
“One of the things I want to be clear on is that it’s our intention not to issue citations or arrest anyone who is in financial need,” said Police Chief Stephanie Hollinghead. “We want to do everything we can to help those individuals.”
She said the ordinance simply addresses callers’ protests about people living out of RVs on city streets, at the public park near the Fairhope Pier, and other public areas.
Hollinghead said, “This ordinance allows us to enforce something to say that ‘You cannot park your vehicles where you want to and then set up a homestead.’”
The new ordinance makes it unlawful for anyone to sleep inside a vehicle (cars, vans, trucks, campers, trailers, etc.) between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except in licensed or approved mobile home parks or trailer parks/campsites.
Exemptions are possible during the Mardi Gras season and the Arts and Crafts Festival in March, but the parking must occur in an area designated by the City Council.
Another exemption allows sleeping in vehicles on lots where a home exists, so long as the vehicle is not occupied in excess of 14 consecutive days, does not emit unreasonable noises or vibrations, and that the owner makes sanitary disposals at approved facilities.
“There are RV parks all around Baldwin County and RV parks in Fairhope and those are designated areas,” said Hollinghead. “Living out of the RV is unacceptable. We didn’t have anything in place that says you cannot do that. That’s one of the issues that has brought this on.”
The ordinance also makes it illegal to live or sleep in any tent, sleeping bag, or outside a building except in areas designated, such as a campsite.
Those arrested for violating the ordinance would face a judge, who would be charged with doling out a fine or possible jail sentence. A violation of the city ordinance carries a possible fine of not less than $1 to no more than $500, and a jail sentence not to exceed six months.
City Councilman Jack Burrell said the ordinance prevents someone from converting public property in a “private campground.” He said he’s not aware of any homeless people sleeping in cars in Fairhope.
“I think some people are construing this as something it’s not,” Burrell said, referring to claims that Fairhope’s ordinance is akin to criminalizing homelessness. “It will be a tool for the police to use and deter a misuse and abuse of public property, if warranted.
“It’s for the people who are driving a RV or van down to the pier and deciding they want to camp there because there is no law against it.”
Homelessness crackdown?
But Burrell and Hollinghead said the ordinance would give the city an enforcement option if a homeless person were misusing public property.
Said Burrell, “I know that many times we have had situations where homeless people are reliving themselves on public property. That is not acceptable.”
Hollinghead provided another example of someone living inside his or her vehicle utilizing outdoor electrical sockets at the city’s public library to plug in an extension cord. “That is a safety issue, a hazard,” she said. “To be able to address something like that is what this ordinance is all about.”
Some council members, before voting in support of the ordinance, voiced support for the city’s police in using discretion on how to enforce it. Said City Councilman Jay Robinson: “They will use wise judgement in handling this ordinance.”
Hollinghead said enforcement will be a judgment call. She used the example of a jubilee at Mobile Bay, which can draw hundreds of people searching for easy-to-catch fish and shrimp.
“It’s not like someone will be ticketed or taken to jail for an incident like that,” she said. “But you have individuals who have the money and the means to go somewhere else.”
Councilman Jimmy Conyers said he was contacted by residents concerned about how homeless people might be treated. He, like Hollinghead and others, said police guide people to resources that aimed at assisting them such as local faith-based ministries or to agencies like Housing First, Inc., based in Mobile.
Housing First’s mission is to provide resources to combat homelessness, and receives funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Administration.
“Housing First wants to be a resource for any city in Mobile or Baldwin counties when dealing with homelessness,” said Derek Boulware, CEO of Housing First. “We are resource for the city of Fairhope … we would welcome that opportunity to talk about what we can offer.”
But some critics of the ordinance say it’s written in a way that is similar to what other cities are doing in what has been termed a “criminalization” of homelessness.
A report from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) shows that of the more than 180 cities surveyed in a recent report, 39% prohibit living in vehicles.
That’s a 143% increase between 2006 and 2016, and represents the “the fastest growing type of criminalization,” according to Tristian Bauman, senior attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based NLCHP.
Bauman said Fairhope’s ordinance is an “overbroad response” to a legitimate concern of people misusing public property during events.
The NLCHP analyzes only two Alabama cities – Mobile and Montgomery. In Mobile, a 1991 city ordinance prohibits anyone from sleeping in a vacant lot during the “hours of darkness” and not giving a “satisfactory account of himself.”
Montgomery prohibits anyone but a physician on emergency calls from parking a vehicle on any street within the central business district for more than one hour between 2 am and 5 a.m. on any day.
Other cities also prohibit sleeping in vehicles. Alabama’s two beach cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have long prohibited it. Huntsville has also outlawed sleeping inside vehicles parked along public roads.
The issue is more pronounced in western states such as California, where the percentage of homeless people not living inside a shelter is higher than elsewhere in the U.S.
In Los Angeles County, one-third of homeless people not living inside a shelter are living in their car or RV, according to Gary Painter, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern California. That’s close to 20,000 people, he said.
“Why does someone live in their car?” Painter said. “They can’t pay for their rent. Economic reasons are showing that people are leaving their homes. The most stable thing they can do is live in their vehicle. In a sense, it’s a big issue for cities to grapple with.”
California lawmakers are currently weighing legislation that would require cities over 300,000 people to develop a safe parking plan for people who live inside their vehicles.
“There is no doubt cities struggle with how to deal with the people most vulnerable in their community,” said Painter. “Ordinances that basically make it a practice to harass the homeless population will exacerbate the challenges the vulnerable individuals and families face and will not help them.”
In Alabama, Gundlach with Alabama Arise, said she doubts that many cities enforce the ordinances.
She is critical of Fairhope’s approach, saying it’s too broad and does target the homeless even if public officials say it does not.
“I really question what they expect people who are homeless to do other than what they are currently doing,” she said “I have not seen evidence of a dramatic increase of homeless shelters and certainly not a significant increase of affordable housing in this state. It’s the exact opposite. Criminalizing the homeless means that you are asking jails to become shelters for the homeless.”