FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) – Florence City Council has passed the first reading of an ordinance that would let the city regulate urban camping and what the city deems “improper use of public place.”
The ordinance would prohibit camping, storing personal property or sleeping in any public park, on public benches or sidewalks or in other public areas such as railroad crossings.
The ordinance would also prohibit those activities if they obstruct building entrances or exits.
Florence Mayor Lethonia Barnes tells WMBF that the city has seen a rise in homelessness in the past several years, and claims other cities are busing their homeless population to Florence.
She says the city financially supports multiple organizations that serve the homeless in the area.
“We’re walking a tightrope,” Barnes says. “While we want to help, we also need to find a way for a hand up and not just a constant burden on the city.
Barnes also says Florence police are trained to point homeless people towards available resources. “
If someone needs a place, they find them a place to stay,” she tells WMBF. “We are providing for the need. However, we also have to make our communities safe.”
WMBF spoke to The House of Hope of the Pee Dee, which operates multiple homeless shelters in Florence.
Chief Development Officer Julie Maxham says homelessness is a hard problem to solve anywhere, and hopes the city will point homeless people towards resources if the ordinance is passed.
“Just going in and wiping out a camp doesn’t benefit anyone,” says Maxham. “It doesn’t benefit a city, because the first thing that happens is they build somewhere else.”
Florence City Councilman Chaquez McCall tells WMBF the council is pushing back the second reading of the ordinance to December, to allow for a study to be done prior to enforcement.
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