Good afternoon and welcome to the uh Hampton City Council work session.

Uh, Madam Clerk, will you call a roll, please?

Councilman Bowman, Vice Mayor Brown, President.

Councilwoman Campbell, present, Councilwoman Fairby, present.

Councilwoman Harper, present, Councilwoman Muggler, present, Mayor Gray.

President, and we have several presentations on the agenda for this afternoon, so I'm going to turn it over to the city manager to introduce the first.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

As you and the council members know, uh sometime, I forget exactly when, last fall, we talked about the possibility of adopting a camping and storage ordinance to deal with some of the problems that neighbors, uh neighborhood residents as well as businesses had expressed about people camping out on public right-of-ways and causing problems in front of their businesses or residences.

When we looked at that ordinance, it was misperceived by the public as an attempt to penalize the homeless, which all of us very clearly did not want to do.

And so the decision by council was made to postpone consideration on that ordinance, get together a stakeholder group, which would include people who spoke before council at the public hearing as well as other interested stakeholders to see if they might be able to come up with a consensus recommendation on how we dealt with the legitimate concerns of residents and businesses, but also reflected our caring, compassionate spirit as Hamptonians and you know made sure that people didn't think we were trying to penalize the homeless.

So for several months, um, all right, we've had a group that has met, and I'm very pleased to say that they came to a consensus, uh, which will be presented to you today by J uh Jason Mitchell, assistant city manager.

Um we have several members of the group in the attendance as well, and after he completes the report, if they have anything they'd like to say, I hope you will allow them to do so, because they did put in a lot of really hard work.

And um, it's I think it's fair to say that we started off thinking we wouldn't be able to get consensus potentially, and I'm very proud that the group really worked to understand each other and to understand the very serious issues that brought us to the point, but also what we can do to help people who are unfortunately unhoused in our community.

So what you're gonna see is a report that talks both about the ordinance, but also because we wanted to validate the other conversation we heard, some next steps as we address a broader issue of homelessness in our community and our region.

With that, I'm pleased to introduce Assistant City Manager Jason Mitchell.

So good afternoon, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, members of council, City Manager Bunting, and City Attorney Sid Noorr.

Um as the city manager indicated, I have a brief report today about our camping and storage ordinance uh related to our stakeholder group.

I'll start with a little bit of background as our camping and storage ordinance was introduced last year to address problematic behaviors occurring in the city right-of-ways, specifically in front of businesses and neighborhood properties.

The original ordinance proposed a misdemeanor one penalty for individuals and or groups that would not leave the right-of-way after being asked to do so.

The ordinance was labeled by many outside of government, local government, as a homeless ordinance, although the ordinance did not specify or apply to homeless individuals.

There was a widespread concern that the ordinance sought to criminalize homelessness, which it did not.

Council and staff believe that there is potentially ways to address the legitimate concerns of businesses and homeowners while also addressing the problems which lead to the original draft ordinance.

A stakeholder committee made up of residents and business owners that had both supported and objected the initial ordinance was convened.

With the primary question of how might we address public concerns about safety and cleanliness while upholding the dignity and rights of people experiencing homelessness.

Sir, our goal.

Through this process, we aim to surface insight, build empathy, and generate viable recommendations that respect human dignity, address public concern, and align with Hampton's values as a compassionate city.

To frame the problem, public discomfort and safety concerns related to behaviors associated with individuals perceived to be homeless, such as public urination, nudity, obstruction of the right-of-way, have prompted a proposed ordinance aimed at addressing these many issues.

While the intent is not to criminalize homelessness, the approach must be carefully considered to avoid unintended consequences that could further marginalize vulnerable individuals.

Our challenge is to develop a community-informed, compassionate and effective response that upholds public dignity, health, and safety while advancing solutions that reflect on our shared values of work of all residents.

So we had several design steps.

Small groups were shared, concerns and generated ideas for amending the camping and storage ordinance to develop practical, compassionate solutions grounded in real-life experiences and community input.

Aligned on the term camping and storage ordinance, which helped clarify the conversation, scope, and shift of the narrative away from the broader homelessness debates toward this specific policy at hand.

And then lastly, work on changing the affirmed the importance of having a camping ordinance while shifting the tone toward more balanced and compassionate approaches.

So the next several slides are talking about our recommendations, and we'll start with the proper tone and framing, as any ordinance should reflect a service-first approach rather than an enforcement first approach.

We aim to lead with care and compassion, not punishment for any individual.

Our second recommendation is to clarify the intent as compassionate compliance, protect the community while never giving up on any of these individuals.

Most people will accept housing when it's safe, dignified and appropriate.

A small number of repeated customers refuse to help because they are deeply traumatized.

For this group, the answer is not simply tolerance nor self-simple enforcement.

It requires balanced strategies.

We will pair persistent outreach with a variety of housing options and insist that public spaces remain safe and usable.

When someone's behavior is dangerous or disruptive, we will address that behavior directly through outreach co-responder teams and our community court programs if that can be worked out.

No one has the right to endanger others and no one should be abandoned.

Our third recommendation is the review whether or not our goals can be accomplished through a city policy versus a city ordinance.

Other cities, most recently, the City of Newport News has adopted policies that attempt to achieve the same goals.

This is the preferred approach.

However, if our city attorney's office determines such a policy would not allow us to enforce it, then additional ordinance adoption may be needed.

Our fourth recommendation is to suggest changes to the ordinance.

That would incorporate language that makes clear that law enforcement shall prioritize voluntary compliance and relocation to lawful areas and/or shelter.

If enforcement is needed, because voluntary compliance is not achieved, the following steps would be taken.

It's the notification of prohibition, offer of service to these customers, and in coordination with outreach workers to offer services and alternatives for sleeping locations when available.

And then the last recommendation is suggested changes to the ordinance continued would be changes of the penalty for non-compliance from a misdemeanor one to a misdemeanor four for the first violation and then a misdemeanor two for subsequent violations, as the misdemeanor four does not have any potential jail time or implication.

However, the misdemeanor two does have the potential for jail time, but also a means for these individuals to get support from public defenders and our the behavioral health docket for their support and help.

And then lastly, the last recommendation is to ensure support for emergency sheltering, continue to develop transitional and our permanent supportive housing options.

Add funding for temporary hotel stays, as we did during the COVID pandemic.

For those individuals willing to accept support while year-round sheltering andor transitional or permanent housing projects, such as converted hotels or the tiny home communities projects are explored and developed.

And that's Mayor, that's the last slide for this presentation, but I would like to acknowledge we do have many of the experts in the audience's manager Bunting indicated, uh, Chief Wideman from the Hampton Police Department, um, Dr.

Porter from Human Services, uh, Demi Callou from our I team, and several other members that may be able to answer any questions council has.

Okay.