HOUSTON – Starting next week, Houston leaders will consider changes to the city’s civility ordinance to balance compassion and public safety amid the ongoing homelessness crisis downtown.
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Houston has made some progress moving people off the streets. However, tensions remain over the city’s set ordinance about sitting, lying down, or leaving personal belongings in certain public spaces from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
During the City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 15, one of the agenda items to be discussed will specifically focus on amending an ordinance stating, “to no longer allow sitting, lying, or storing belongings on the sidewalks, even during the overtime hours.”
“The change is in the two civility areas first as a pilot program to promote more directed interactions between the administration and those suffering chronic homelessness,” the agenda item explains. “The goal is facilitation of structured and reinforced wrap-around support.”
Mayor John Whitmire has previously said the ordinance is one way to help keep public spaces clean and safe, especially as downtown grows busier with events in places like the Theater District and near the George R. Brown Convention Center.
“It’s a tool being used by our neighborhoods as we have more residents downtown,” Whitmire said. “But there is no doubt about it, a solution to the homeless conditions is a top priority. It’s one of the reasons I listed to run for office.”
Larry Satterwhite, Houston’s Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security, previously said those rules are meant to keep sidewalks open and safe for everyone.
“There are areas in the city that are really most impacted and communities that are most impacted by that,” he explained. “And because of that, even during our freeze, we saw people rolled up in less than a blanket on our streets, and we all see it every day if you’re in the City of Houston, certainly in downtown.”
Satterwhite also called homelessness on the streets a tragic issue that can quickly become life-threatening.
“Right now, they don’t know another life, and they are resistant to the things that we are offering because they don’t know that lif,e and there is a lack of trust,” Satterwhite said.
For now, city officials say the challenge is finding enough funding, beds, and staff to bring lasting change to Houston’s homelessness crisis, while keeping public spaces safe and accessible for everyone.
Another proposed plan is expected to go before the council within 60 days, which will provide more resources to Houston’s unsheltered population.