Members of Columbia's City Council voted last week in favor of the "Emergency Homeless Response" in an attempt to rid the downtown area of homeless people.
The plan, created by Councilman Cameron Runyan, is intended to protect "quality of life" laws, such as bans on loitering and public urination according to Think Progress. Police officers will be instructed to patrol South Carolina's capital city to keep an eye on any homeless people in the area and arrest them if they refuse to leave. If there isn't an officer in sight, business owners and residents can use the local hotline to report any homeless activity in the area.
In order to make up for the ban downtown, the council is working with a local charity to create a 24-hour shelter on the edge of town that will offer 240 beds. According to Think Progress, there are currently 1,518 homeless people in the Columbia area.
Homeless people will not be allowed to leave the shelter once they arrive unless they set up an appointment and are escorted out by a van. To ensure the homeless don't enter the shelter and then leave towards the downtown area, a police officer will be stationed on the road leading towards the prohibited area, Think Progress reported.
Michael Stoops, the Director of Community Organizing at the National Coalition for the Homeless, told Think Progress the new plan is the "most comprehensive anti-homeless measure that [he had] ever seen proposed in any city in the last 30 years."
Stoops also said he had little faith in the program, suggesting "one massive shelter on the outskirts to house all a city's homeless is something that has never worked anywhere in the country."
The South Carolina branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) is looking into the plan and homeless advocates may file a suit in court, claiming the new regulations violate the rights to equal treatment under the law of freedom and assembly.
"The underlying design is that they want the homeless not to be visible in downtown Columbia," said Susan Dunn, the legal director of the ACLU in the state. "You can shuttle them somewhere or you can go to jail. That's, in fact, an abuse of power."
