Hug, Melton.

Mr.

President.

Here.

Please stand for the Pledge Allegiance and remain standing for opening remarks by Councilmember Ron Hug.

Be seated.

Those of you that don't know me, let me assure you that I can talk for hours about nothing.

But what's more important is today we're here to listen to what you have to say.

So I'm going to forego any further comments, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

An affidavit of publication is on file, and a current copy of the Open Meeting Act is posted in a White Binder on the East Wall of Legislative Chambers.

Good afternoon.

We welcome you to this meeting of the Omaha City Council today as a courtesy to those in attendance and to facilitate and conduct our business.

We ask you please silence, turn them off, get those cell phones turned off, please.

Thank you.

Reminder that you will have three minutes to speak on an agenda item.

Please stay on topic.

If we would like your comments enter into the public record, you can email our city clerk at Cityclerk at City of Omaha.org.

The council members receive these emails and we read them.

Finally, I ask the council members, um, let's see, council members may ask members of the audience back up for clarifying questions, but not for extra time to speak.

And I would remind council members and people that are going to come up to the microphone, make sure your microphones are up to your to your mouth so people out in the audience, but also in public listening at home can hear you.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Harold, if you would come up to the dais while I read this, please.

The proclamation reads as follows.

Whereas prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men, and whereas this year, approximately 313, 780 men will be will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States alone.

I'll take a quick pause there to say I think last year it was 148.

Yeah, that's right.

So we we broke it by one.

By one.

I might have been the one.

I had mine.

You were the guy.

Yeah.

And whereas, as all men are at risk for prostate cancer, we encourage the citizens of Omaha and all Nebraskans to increase the awareness of the and the importance of prostate screenings.

Now, therefore, we, the City Council of the City of Omaha, do hereby proclaim the month of September 2025 as prostate cancer awareness month in the City of Omaha.

In witness whereof we have set our hands and cause the official seal of the City of Omaha to be affixed on this 23rd day of September 2025.

And before I hand it over to Harold, I'll I'll just uh for my own testimonial, I guess.

You might remember all the members of this council.

Um I uh announced that I had my uh prostatectomy exactly it's been a year and two days ago now, and had it not been for uh a PSA screening, I would not have caught it.

And it's uh truly a treatable form of cancer.

I've uh been clear every test since, so we think we got it all, and it's important to get the test done because it is treatable with early detection.

So I met Harold last weekend at the cruising for a cure.

I've been wanting to get involved with the organization because they are all about making sure that we know about this treatable form of cancer and early detection is vitally important.

So I wanted to read the proclamation and give you a couple of words to say as well, Harold.

Yeah.

So I had mine in uh 2010, and thank goodness I had caught mine early, even though my Gleason score was extremely high and aggressive, but uh mine is basically cured because of early detection.

But if I had waited a year or two later, mine would have uh left my prostate, and I'd probably be dead now.

Uh I don't know if anybody remembers David Jacobson from Q-Tac Rock.

Well, he was diagnosed one year before me, and his had left his prostate, and he died about three or four years ago from prostate cancer.

And the uh my friend Earl Taylor from That I had Notes said I'm gonna get emotional.

You got it, you're fine.

Who had notes says third grade.

Who had prostate cancer before I did?

And then I got it, and Earl and I started cruising for a cure in 2011.

He died in July before our second car show.

His had left his prostate, and because of that, he died from prostate cancer.

So it's extremely important that you get your PSA tests and get diagnosed early because it is almost a hundred percent curable if you catch it early.

And it's only a blood, only a blood draw and a blood test.

That's all it is to get it started.

Um I encourage every man over 40 to get a PSA test.

And they're and they're free at your free from us, we'll pay for it.

Uh if you uh if if um if you don't have a doctor to get one from uh you can go to physicians laboratory at 49th and and F Street during the day and uh ask for a PSA test and have it charged to uh Nebraska Prostate Cancer Alliance, and they'll send us the bill.

Yep.

And then uh take it from there.

And if you need help and in direction from there, we'll be glad to help you.

Get the direction from there.

Thank you, Harold.

Thank you.

Thanks for doing this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for doing that.

Thank you.

So Edwin doing all right, good job.

Good job.

Can I speak on this?

Go ahead.

Okay.

Item six, the resolution to approve the city of Omaha 2026 property tax requests.

Council discussion on item number six.

Motion approve.

Got a motion and a second.

Roll call.

Roe.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin, Harding, Hug, Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion passed, seven to zero.

Item seven to consider a class I liquor license for ISPA lash nail lounge located at 1415 West Center Road.

I will open the public hearing on item number seven.

Before I call for proponents, is the applicant here today.

Can we delay it?

Is the applicant here for item number seven for ISPA lash nail lounge?

Is there time?

Yeah.

There's time.

Um to lay over.

Yes.

September 30th.

Motion and a second to lay over for one week.

You said September 30th.

September 30th.

Roll call.

Rowe.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion passed seven to zero.

Item eight.

To consider a class I liquor license for Coniglia field located at 6201 Maverick Plaza.

Public hearing is now open on item number eight.

Before I call for proponents, is the applicant for item number eight here today?

Hello.

Um sorry, I haven't done this before.

Ron McGaugh, I am the director of food and beverage for SMG Food and Beverage LLC.

Um we are looking at uh adding a liquor license onto our portfolio for Coniglia Field.

We currently uh have liquor license at Backshore Arena for the University of Nebraska, Omaha, as well as Maverick Park, which is their baseball softball complex.

Can I also get your address too, please?

Uh my home address is 7033 Hillcrest Lane La Vista 68128.

Thank you.

Is there any other proponents here today on item number eight?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Motion approved second.

Got a motion and a second, roll call.

Rowe.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding?

Yes.

Hug?

Yes.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion passed seven to zero.

Item nine to consider a class K catering liquor license for Ancho and Agave located at 17110 Davenport Street, suite 114.

I will now open the public hearing on item number nine.

Are there any proponents here?

Is the applicant here today?

Applicant is on Zoom.

Good afternoon.

Hi.

Name and address, please.

Hi.

I'm Chris Kinnear.

I'm the corporate controller for the company.

I'm located at our corporate headquarters in Livington, Illinois at 1705 Clearwater Avenue in Livington, Illinois.

Thank you.

Is there any other proponents here today on item number nine?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Motion to approve.

Motion and a second.

Roll call.

Row.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug?

Melton?

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Items 10 through 12 can be considered together for Class K catering liquor licenses for high V locations at 5150 Center Street, 10808 Ford Street, 9707 Q Street.

I'll open the public hearing on items number 10 through 12.

Are there any proponents or is the applicant here today?

Is the applicant from high V here today?

Yeah.

Second.

Got a motion and a second to lay over to September 30th.

Do I need to close the public hearing before we vote?

Okay.

Okay.

Uh roll call.

Row.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Item 13.

To consider a class I liquor license for Mediterranean Bistro located at 1712 North 120th Street.

I'll open the public hearing on item number 13.

Are there any proponents or the applicant here today?

Applicant is on Zoom.

Aye.

Good afternoon.

Name and address, please.

Um Maditerranean Bistro and I am Holly Heitman.

1712 North 120th Street in Omaha.

Thank you.

Is there any other proponents here today?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Motion and a second.

Roll call.

Row.

Festerson.

Yes.

Good one.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug.

Yes.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Item 14 to consider an addition application for the class C liquor license for corner kitchen located at 4218 South 50th Street to add an indoor area.

Public hearing is now open on item number 14.

Is the applicant here today?

Hello.

Good afternoon.

Oh yeah, my name is Joshua Hernandez.

Um with the corner kitchen.

And what's your address?

My home address is going to be uh 2706 Oliver Street Belleview.

Thank you.

Is there any other proponents here today on item number 14?

Seeing none, is there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Second.

Row call.

Row.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug?

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item 15.

A resolution to approve the preliminary plat for Calarosa replat one, located southeast of 213th Street in Kansas Avenue.

Planning Board and Planning Department recommend approval.

Open the public hearing on item number 15.

Good afternoon, members of the city council and staff.

Uh Kyle Vole with the ENA Consulting Group here on behalf of the applicant.

What we have today is a minor plat or replot of four existing single family lots that had extra depth and width on them, so we were able to do some adjustments.

Those are older platted phases and combine those uh to pick up one additional buildable single family lot.

Uh with that, uh happy to answer any other questions.

Comes with recommendation from approval from planning.

Thank you.

Is there any proponents here?

Item number 15.

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Moved to approved.

Motion is second, roll call.

Row.

Festerson, good one.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug?

Melton.

Yes.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Item 16 and 17 can be considered together for MUD State Street, located northwest of 195th and State Streets.

Planning Board and Planning Department recommend approval.

Item 16 is a resolution to approve the preliminary plat.

Item 17, a resolution to approve a waiver to the present development zone boundary of the urban development element of the city's master plan.

Public hearing is now open on items 16 and 17.

Applicant here today.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Mr.

President.

Council members.

Jim Boucher, 10250 Regency Circle Circle.

Here on behalf of the applicant Metropolitan Utilities District.

Thank you.

Thanks, Jim.

Any proponents here on items 16 and 17?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Motion and second, roll call.

Row.

Festerson.

Yes.

Goodwin.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

Consent agenda.

Any member of the city council may cause any item placed on the consent agenda to be removed.

Items removed from the consent agenda.

Shall be taken up by the city council immediately following the consent agenda and the order in which they were removed unless otherwise provided by the city council rules of order.

The public hearing on agenda items 18 through 23 were held on September 16th, 2025.

Is there any council discussion?

Motion approve items 18 through 23.

Motion and a second.

No further lights.

Roll call.

Row.

Yes.

Festerson.

Yes.

Good one.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug?

Yes.

Melton.

Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion pass seven to zero.

The public hearings on agenda items 24 through 44 are today.

If you wish to address the city council regarding these items, please come to the microphone.

Indicate the agenda item number you wish to address.

Identify yourself by your name, address, and who you represent.

And if you're a proponent or opponent, I'll open the public hearing.

Are there any proponents on items 24 through 44?

Seeing none.

Are you a proponent?

Please come down.

For number 24, yeah.

Please come down.

For number 24, it's uh Justin Poggy.

I'm for proponent uh tracks lounge, um, address 1810 North 197th Street, Hellcorn, Nebraska.

Um, and yeah, we're just applying for keynote for our second location at TRACS, which our original location is on uh 1506 South 60th Street, been there 60 years, and uh we've owned it for two.

I had wings last week there, so thanks.

World's best.

World's best, everybody.

Thanks for coming down.

Is there a thank you?

Any other proponents seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

We appreciate it.

Thanks.

Motion provided 24 through 44.

Motion is second, roll call.

Pasterson, yes, good one.

Harding?

Yes, hug, Melton, Mr.

President.

Aye.

Motion passed seven to zero.

Item 45, an ordinance to authorize the issuance of a purchase order to Abe's Trash Service Inc.

for rubbish container service to be utilized by the street maintenance division.

I'll open the public hearing on item number 45.

Are there any proponents?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Item 46, an ordinance to approve a storm sewer maintenance agreement with Westwood Solutions LLC for Bondison Street, paving improvements for the state and highway 133 edition site, northwest of State Street and Blair High Road.

I will open the public hearing on item number 46.

Are there any proponents?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Item 47, an ordinance to accept an authorized disbursement from the Nebraska Crime Commission fiscal year 2024.

Stop violence against women grant to enhance victim assistance services and prosecute cases of domestic violence.

Public hearing is now open on item number 47.

Are there any proponents?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Item 48, an ordinance to approve an interlocal agreement with Douglas County for the operation of the joint 911 emergency communication system.

Public hearing is now open on item number 48.

Are there any proponents?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Item 49, an ordinance to create a new chapter in the Omaha Municipal Code governing local activities permitted under Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Act and the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Act.

I'll open the public hearing on item number 49.

Mr.

Cousy, Mr.

Grauman, good afternoon.

And Eric English right behind me too.

Other side.

It is simply establishing where in the city can these establishments that get licensed and approved by the state will be located in the city of Omaha.

And with that, I'll turn it over to the real authors of this ordinance, Mr.

Groman and Mr.

England.

Good afternoon, David Groman on behalf of the city law department.

Mr.

Kuzi stated most of the relevant information related to this particular ordinance.

Those are in in place for uh effectively effectively 90 days and can be extended for another 90 days.

So the state will seek to promulgate these rules and regulations and make them permanent.

And once they are, that will be the process that handles both the production of the cannabis as well as uh dispensaries and how they're able to sell the cannabis.

Uh as I looked through and reviewed these and spoke with attorneys in the state side of things, we determined that really the primary goal of a city ordinance is to determine that uh where these establishments, Mr.

Kuzi identified the four different establishments there are where those are allowed to be placed within the city of Omaha.

Our goal here is to make sure that the safety and welfare of the citizens is kept in place.

We don't want uh cannabis dispensaries or grow operations in a residential neighborhood where children are around.

We want to make sure these are done in a safe manner.

And so in doing so, we worked with the planning department, Mr.

England and I went through and reviewed the city uh zoning districts as well as the use types that we thought each of these four establishments would fit into.

And between the two departments, we came up with uh what is currently the list that we're gonna operate under if anything changes on the state side and they uh end up going through the promulgation process, and that results in the rules and regulations that are currently in place changing, we'll re-evaluate and see if we need to change things.

This does not change the current zoning ordinances in the city of Omaha.

It does not change the chapter that governs zoning districts.

What it does do is it creates a new chapter entitled Cannabis that will govern cannabis, uh the cannabis regulations that are currently in place, and then we can adjust that as necessary as things change in the future uh on the state side.

So I'm here to answer any other questions you might have on this particular issue.

Um but at that point I'll turn it over to Mr.

England and let him speaks.

Sure.

Yeah, thank you, uh Council President and other members of the council, and thank you for the law department for that um nice summary and introduction.

I'm here mostly to answer questions, but I can um for the record just state the four different use types that would be uh referenced within our existing zoning uh ordinance.

And as Mr.

Groman said, we are not making any changes to the zoning code, which is chapter 55, but rather working within those use types and those districts that we already have identified.

So specifically for dispensary, it would be classified as general retail sales.

Uh cultivator is kind of a two-part um component, either a commercial farm, which is limited to office commercial and industrial districts.

Typically, you would see these growing operations to occur indoors.

However, we also do have the component if there was an outdoor growing operation within the AG district, as long as that is over 20 acres in size.

Specifically for product manufacture, it'd be classified as light industry.

This is the processing of the raw material into the digestible form.

And then the fourth one, transporter, would be warehousing and distribution limited.

And so all of those are within office commercial or industrial districts.

Uh there's a few other parameters that are set in place, such as hours of operation, um, making sure that we have the ability for our code enforcement to follow up on any um you know illegal operations or anything like that.

So here to answer any questions.

Thanks.

Is there any other proponents?

Uh good afternoon, Omaha City Council.

Uh Donnie R.

Johnson, the Johnson Equestion Foundation and North Omaha Concerned Citizen Foundation.

We've been listening to the legislation in Lincoln, the United Cameron, and what their decision on this medical marijuana.

We're kind of confused on the four applications and the four people who are going to get licensed.

We need more clarification on that as well.

But we also want Mr.

President to consider that as Senator Fisher and I, we've been to looking at Benson Park for a feed lot to generate revenue.

But if we can't get a feed light on the old Benson Windagalker course lee, can we actually grow medical marijuana there?

Because there's a lot of land there, and we need money in North Omaha.

So we'll grow plenty of marijuana or a feed lot, something to generate revenue.

Thank you, sir.

Donnie, can we please get your address?

Yes, sir.

Uh 4928 Noah 52nd.

And hopefully, Mr.

Harding, when you go to Washington, D.C., I'll get a new address.

Thank you.

Is there any other proponents here?

Seeing none, are there any opponents?

Public hearing is closed.

Item 50, an ordinance.

Oh, I beg your pardon.

Councilmember Fesserson, you're recognized.

Thanks, Mr.

President.

Um and Donnie, congratulations.

This is the one day where you talk about medical marijuana and it's on topic.

On a serious note, though, um, the point he makes, I think, is something I I did want to uh just ask Mr.

Groman about.

I think you did a nice job summarizing uh what we're doing here today, uh, which I think is the practical thing to do prior to October 1st and to add such classifications to our zoning code.

Whether you supported the ballot measure or not, this is something we need to do to be responsible at the city level.

And all it does is essentially say um these classifications cannot be done in a residential area, uh commercial areas where that's appropriate, correct?

Correct.

Uh there are a few other restrictions where we mirror what's currently in state regulation and/or state statute, uh things we found to be important.

Um so we addressed the fact that you can't be uh using any cannabis at a cavalry, cannabis establishment.

You can you should not be drinking at a cannabis establishment.

Um, the disposal of cannabis.

The things that we felt necessary to codify in city ordinance, which were few and far between, we did put those in.

Other than that, again, everything is related to the zoning of the different types of establishments and the activities they'll be conducting.

And you referenced the emergency regulations that are currently in place and may be extended.

Um I think currently, under that proposal, uh there could only be four cultivators in the state and only one dispensary in Douglas County.

Um I do think there's those that question that those regulations and if they are consistent with what was approved by uh voters at the ballot.

Uh but so should that be challenged, and I expect they will be challenged.

Um that does not change what we're doing here today.

Um, whether those numbers change or the regulatory structure changes, this zoning classification is still needed.

Uh that's correct, council member.

We tried to draft it with the understanding that things may change at the state level, and we wanted what we put in place at the city ordinance um side of things to be able to be static and withstand most changes that may occur on the state side.

They have gone through a number of different proposed emergency rules and regulations, so it's quite possible that they change again moving forward.

Um there have been different proposals put forward as far as how many establishments can be located in different areas around the state.

You're right.

Uh at this current moment, they they determine that the dispensaries are going to be placed one per judicial district.

There are 12 of those across the state, uh, in pursuant to state statute that defines where those judicial districts are.

The latest version of the rules and regulations allows for an adjustment of up to one additional dispensary, uh and that's a change from what was in place uh in July, the rules and regs that were put in place in July.

So does is it possible that changes again?

Yes.

But do we feel on the city side of things that the planning department and the law department have put in place ordinances that are going to be able to adjust, you know, as they're currently written to any changes?

We think so.

Thank you.

Thanks for working on this.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Item 50, an ordinance to add sections to chapter 20 of the Omaha Municipal Code entitled Unauthorized Encampments on Public Property to provide for rules and regulations for addressing unauthorized encampments on public property.

A is communication and support, B is communications and opposition.

I'll open the public hearing on item number 50.

Mr.

Kuzi, good afternoon.

Maxis City of Omaha Law Department.

I'm here with Mr.

Indonbosch.

I just wanted to kind of give an overview of how we got to the situation, and I'll turn it over to Mr.

Indebash to discuss the particulars naturally when the time for the council has questions.

I'll be sitting up there, and Mr.

Mindenbosch will still be here.

With regard to a public encampment ordinance, these are ordinances that exist throughout the country.

They're called different things, but they have a same general point which prohibits people from sitting in line, camping, loitering, whatever you want to call it on public spaces.

As you can as you might recall, this issue came to a forefront last June when the United States Supreme Court ruled on a case called grants payouts versus Johnson.

It was designed to resolve an issue in the law where different jurisdictions in the United States had inconsistent rulings on the legality of ordinances such as this.

And the Supreme Court stepped in as they normally do when to resolve different opinions out there to set a final word on it.

The issue that was coming before the court was essentially were these types of laws, public encampment laws, sitting in line laws, loitering, whatever they're called, did it violate the eighth amendments of the Constitution's cruel and unusual prohibit prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

And what the Supreme Court said was no, they do not.

What these ordinances do, because they were deemed to be neutral as to people's status.

It would apply evenly to all people, was that it doesn't violate the Eighth Amendment because you are punishing conduct.

You are not punishing status.

Punishing status is not appropriate and not allowed.

Punishing conduct is in criminal law and criminal ordinances and criminal statutes throughout Omaha, Nebraska, the United States, punish conduct, not status.

And that's why the Supreme Court ruled that such ordinances were constitutional.

And you did see following the grants pass ruling, primarily on the West Coast of the United States, cities passing ordinances such as the one being proposed today that would prohibit type this type of conduct again, not status.

That led to uh the law department receiving a quest from Councilmember Harding to prepare such an ordinance.

The law department is competent is legally sound, constitutionally sound, and would not be subject to a successful court challenge should the council implement it and the mayor sign it and it become law.

I just wanted to give that overview of the I guess background of how these types of ordinances and laws came into effect before I turn it over to Mr.

Indenbosch who can discuss the particulars of this uh ordinance.

President members of the city council, and obviously within the context of Mr.

Kuzi's background.

Obviously, this particular ordinance, which was requested, uh prohibits unauthorized encampments on public property, and that's all we're all it addresses.

Uh there's an ability to post private property, for example, parks have closing hours.

Uh there have been tools available, criminal tools, including pe citing people for trespass that I'm under the impression have been used in those contexts.

There isn't citing somebody for trespass on public property is legally questionable, and as a result, that's why you have a lot of cities adopting ordinances like that.

This particular ordinance attempts to define encampment, camping paraphernalia and public property and its body.

We can certainly talk about what those mean if there is the council wants to do so this week or next week, and makes it unlawful to occupy or maintain an encampment on public property.

There is a requirement that prior to issue of a citation, they have an opportunity to that people who are potentially going to be cited have an opportunity to go to a shelter.

That was a requirement that Mr.

Harding asked that we include in this particular ordinance.

There is no question that if someone is cited for it, they would or arrested for it.

They're subject to a fine up to $300 or 30 days in jail.

The amount of that fine or sentence is up to the discretion of the county court judge.

I would point out that that both the dollar amount and time period in jail are substantially lower than the the what is normal for a city code violation, which is potentially a $500 fine and up to six months in jail.

There's also a requirement that if they're going to remove the property who is being cited for uh being involved in the encampment, that you have to post a notice, and that notice has to be for at least 24 hours before you can remove the items.

And those items that are removed must be retained for 30 days, if not booked into evidence.

And that particular mechanism of preserving the property of those people that are subject to this is pretty common.

And it's pretty common whether people make it a criminal citation or uh treat it in some other form.

Obviously, the other thing I want to say is certainly any parts, the length of each of the any of those things can always be amended, subject to the discretion of this particular council.

I reviewed a number of ordinances by other uh cities, and this and came up with language that I felt uh was consistent with what I read in other ordinances uh that have been adopted since the uh grants pass case.

So happy to answer any questions if the council hasn't.

Thank you.

Are there any proponents for item number 50 here today?

I got a couple, okay.

Read them in the first, I have a list.

There is a list.

Please, Larry, don't disturb my meeting.

Have him removed right now.

You're out.

He's number one.

You're not gonna remove one.

You're not gonna interrupt this meeting, you're out, Larry.

Two weeks in a row.

You're out.

He's yelling as he's going out the door.

Thank you, everybody, for being civil today.

Thank you.

No, we're not gonna do this.

We're not gonna do this.

Please remove him right now.

You're removed.

We're not gonna interrupt this meeting.

You're removed.

We're gonna be civil.

I have an order I'm gonna go in here, okay.

Okay.

Well, uh, I was asked to sign up.

I so and I I send up to just a minute.

But I'm not an opponent.

Are we in a channel?

Yeah.

Well, so yeah, I was told that I have to sign up.

Okay, but you're you're you're an opponent.

Okay, no, I'm not.

I'm a proponent.

That's what you when you sign.

Well, that's a piece of paper.

Okay, we're doing proponents first, okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Um, so we're gonna go in the laser.

We're gonna go in the order.

Okay.

All right.

So we got a list of speakers that signed in.

Thank you, everybody, for your patience.

The first speaker for proponent is Gerald Johnson.

Okay, before I speak, I want the council to vote on my uh address waiver that was turned down by the clerk.

Madam Clerk.

Yep.

Um I'll just note that according to our city council rules of order, the city clerk's determination is final, so there is not an appeal process.

If the council wishes to entertain the request, do you need to vote to suspend the rules and then vote on the request?

Is there a motion to suspend it suspend?

Is there a motion to suspend those rules?

No motion.

So please, Mr.

Johnson, provide your address.

Can I make one quick comment before I start the clock?

The the clock will start when you when I first up.

No, it'll start now after we give your address.

Okay, good.

Okay.

Uh my name is Jerry Johnson.

I address 1753 V Street.

I'm for this ordinance because it's in a step in the right direction.

Homeless account are out of control.

Do the following reasons.

I'm paraphrasing our public officials on this issue.

Former Mayor Jean, I don't want to criminalize the homeless.

Current mayor, a homeless task force is on away in a couple months.

A city councilman.

We need to look for both sides.

City homeless director, leave them alone.

It's their home.

Be kind to your neighbor.

Dundee Association.

Get him on a mega sable, but don't criminalize them.

You can't have it both ways.

I believe there are laws on the book for trespassing, health code violations, the lawyering.

There is a presidential election order for all 50 states to get rid of homeless encampments.

A reality of doing nothing is the death of a homeless woman who froze to death last winter in a cabin.

Unreported crimes are being committed as b uh building fires and assaults.

What needs to be done legally is involuntary confinement in a medical facility by judge ruling.

This could be for the homeless, cannot make that for homeless that cannot make a rational decision on their own.

Affordable housing is not the answer.

They can't maintain their sanitary condition of housing unit based on the current behavior.

I've called 911 many at many homeless people for many homeless people lying on standing on public streets to ask for money.

This is very frustrating when I see the people back on the street or on a traffic medium.

The city uh Omaha needs to take action now.

I have to respond to the mayor of Omaha's public statement on homeless account.

Ask the Douglas County Sheriff for help.

Ask the state patrol for help.

If necessary, ask the government for uh governor for help.

National Guard.

At the last resort, ask for the federal government for help.

A 911 call today on a non-emergency call could be answered.

Non-emergency, I'm saying, within two hours.

We don't have six months.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, okay.

I'm done.

I'm going by the rules.

Thanks, Mr.

Johnson.

Next speaker is Eli Hernandez.

Eli Hernandez.

505 South 15th Street.

Uh I don't.

This was it sounds like you guys don't know a lot about what is going to be in this thing.

It does look very punitive and it looks very performative in terms of just like political theater because there's no real solutions behind it.

And it's just like we're gonna crack down on people that there's they don't have the $300 they give and they don't have anywhere to go when they get out of the jail.

But I guess it looks good for people who are you know that there's gotta be a bad guy for everybody.

So what I think is you guys haven't done a very good job of trying to inflate the real estate bubble the way you're copying Denver and Portland and Seattle and the other cities, so there isn't a huge homeless problem here.

It is manageable if you would get on the ball and get your nonprofits and different organizations to actually work together.

Sir, I'm sorry, can I interrupt you?

I'm sorry.

I'll hold your time.

Are you Mr.

Eli Hernandez?

That's right.

Okay.

He doesn't reside in Bible.

That's not pleasant.

Uh I told them I didn't have an address when I signed up, and they said, okay, and they just signed it up.

Okay.

You just gave the police address.

Yeah.

Okay.

I would we just want to note for the record that that's not your address.

Okay.

Continue.

Yeah.

Okay, your time's gonna start now.

Thank you.

All right.

So it's when the the people are up here talking, he's like, well, this can be used if you are laying down, if you were sitting down, if you are camping, anything, there's no real designation other than we want this person gone, so they have to move.

So, but you guys haven't, you're copying these other places, but you haven't done the things, the gentrification steps to result in the massive amounts of homelessness that these other places have.

So this thing, once it passes, it's gonna run out of juice pretty soon because there's not enough homeless people to keep this really like punitive austerity measure thing going.

And I'm for this because as soon as it runs out, and all of us people who don't have anywhere to go are grounded up in this, then we can go to you guys, and everybody who's got absolutely anything that's on a public easement on a public property, the most pettiest thing we can do, and we can go after you guys.

And if you don't have that, we'll go after other citizens.

It could be the most pettiest, tiniest little technical infraction.

And when they get hit with it, just like we'll get hit with it when they tell us you owe us $300 and 30 days in jail, they'll say, Well, it was Goodwin, it was Festerson, Harding, Begley, Roe, Melton, Hug, they're the ones who did this.

If they would have got a real solution, wouldn't it came down to this?

And we wouldn't have done that to the homeless people, which enraged the homeless people and the people that support them.

So I guess it's you guys' fault.

You know, this there's no real solution being presented here.

It's $300 the people who can't afford it, $30, 30 days in jail, so when you get out, you're just right back in the same situation.

You'll have that little group of people that you can continuously drop the hammer on, but when that runs out, and the people who are you know have had enough of this, we'll get petty, we'll make sure that this thing is used to jam up all kind of people who all do have houses and homes, and then they'll look to you guys for why don't you give any real solutions?

Why why did it come to this?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next proponent is Mr.

Pardon me.

People are out there.

Next speaker is Mr.

Jeremy Welsh.

Hello, Jeremy Walsh, Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Uh, here on behalf of uh Sheriff Aaron Hansen, who can't be here today, apologizes he is out of town.

He wanted me to uh give you the following statement.

Council members, as sheriff, I have the duty to voice my support for the proposed ban on tent encampments on city property, just as state law already does on state, county, and NRD property.

My position is rooted in one simple fact.

These encampments are dangerous.

They are dangerous not only for the people who live and work nearby, but also for the vulnerable individuals who live in them.

Our deputies routinely respond to calls to visit these sites, 121 in the last year.

And what we find is deeply concerning.

Tent encampments become hotbeds for crime, addiction, and untreated uh mental and behavioral health challenges.

We regularly encounter felons, sex offenders, and drug addicts living in these camps.

That reality places both the residents inside the camps and the surrounding community at risk.

These makeshift settlements are not safe, stable places for anyone to live.

They're absolutely not a place where you where people get better.

They expose people to violence, theft, exploitation, and dangerous health conditions.

They also create fear and uncertainty for families who live, work, and play in the neighborhoods around them.

Here's a direct quote from a complaint that received recently from a citizen in Northeast Omaha about an encampment at a park nearby her house.

Quote, kids can't even be kids, cars are being broke into, garages broken into.

Please clean up our neighborhood.

Our children deserve to be children.

End quote.

Now I want to be clear, we do not believe homeliness, homelessness will be solved by law enforcement.

This is not a problem law enforcement alone can fix, but homelessness and illicit tent encampments are two different things.

And when the law is broken and public safety is jeopardized, we have a duty to respond.

We don't go looking for encampments, but when we are called, we have a legal and moral responsibility to act regardless of where in the county the call came from.

We cannot afford to normalize or enable a system where vulnerable people are left in dangerous, unregulated encampments.

Shelters and structured programs are the best entry points for providing stability, treatment, and a pathway forward.

Allowing people to remain intense on city property is not compassion, it is abandonment.

For these reasons, I urge the city council to move forward with this ordinance.

Those who live in the community and those who desperately need a safer path than life in a tent.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Aaron Hanson, Douglas County Sheriff.

Thank you.

I do have copies of his letter if anyone would like one.

I'll leave them over.

Thanks.

Next speaker is Mr.

Jim Winston.

Good afternoon.

I'm Jim Winston, 840 North 44th Street.

Mr.

President, thank you for maintaining order.

I have read the proponents and opponents' messages that were given through the uh through this organization, and I have found that I've come to agree with comments on both sides of the argument.

Um this is a big issue, one that has lots of moving parts, lots of um uh fiery people behind them.

I'm concerned that doing nothing changes nothing.

What I would like to see done is I would like information to be made public, and I'm not sure exactly how to do this, but um I believe there are benefits already available to the homeless population.

I believe that we know some of the reasons why they choose not to take those benefits.

I would like that published in a more formal way rather than coming out.

This organization says here, that says there.

Um how much do the homeless people get in cash?

I believe some of them do get actual checks or cards or whatever from where do they come?

To me, again, this is a huge issue, and one that one organization or purpose or person doesn't have all the information.

Let's educate the public on both sides of the issue.

I've decided to come down on the foreside of this ordinance because one, it's a step forward, it punishes conduct, not status, and it can be changed in the future, as I believe it was Eli said earlier.

This is this is a step in the right direction, maybe.

I don't know.

If if it comes down to, you know, you guys are getting excited from for the same reasons.

I I don't know.

But we need to start.

We can talk this thing to death.

I think we need to get something done.

Let's not kick the can down the road.

Let's let's put forth something that might be bad on somebody's part, and um, and use that as a stepping stone into a long-term real solution for homelessness, mental health, etc.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mr.

Winston.

Next speaker is Mary Joe Rice.

Mary Joe Rice.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh can you can you pull those down a little bit so you can try to talk into the mic?

There you go.

Okay, I agree with that.

Ma'am, can we get your name and address, please?

Mary Joe Rice, 4123 North 25th Avenue.

I agree with some parts of uh the homelessness, and but we are having more crime, but I'm not trying to label them as bad people.

We're all, you know, each and every one of us is the person.

I might thing is there a way to the ones that will help their cells abilitate them or something to get them off the street, maybe uh uh another way or something.

I mean, for the ones that want to help their selves, I'm talking about because I'm for the the law on it, without a doubt, but the solution, I guess I'm talking about is throwing them in jail and all that really gonna be the long-term answer for some of them that that would be willing to help themselves out here rather than see them get out of jail and go back in street and all that.

I guess I mean I'm for it, but then it say they go to jail and then they're right back out here with the campsite looking all messy and all that is that gonna be the full solution.

Uh like some people that are sick and can help themselves, like ain't there some kind of like community stuff they can do, like to try to show to help their selves or something like that when they get out instead of going back to the streets and cluttering up the streets or anything like that because we're all trying to deal with this problem, but it's when they get out, they're just gonna clutter the streets again.

I'm just asking.

We're just listening to your comments, ma'am.

Yeah, thank you.

So I guess that's all I have to say.

You have a little bit of time left.

If that's all you have, then thank you for coming down today.

Appreciate you being here.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Still on project.

Okay.

We're still on proponents for this item.

Is there any other proponents here that would like to speak?

Please come down.

Seeing none, we will now go to the opponents.

Are there any opponents here?

I think I'd have a couple.

Do we start on Zoom first?

Or okay.

So we're gonna go through the list here.

The first speaker for opposition is Miss Nicole Engels.

Nicole.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Um I know a lot of the folks here have lived experience and will say many of the things that I plan to say better than I will, and that many of my colleagues who work in homeless services will say a lot more of it better than I will.

But what I have that is fairly unique is eight years in the city planning department working on homeless service grants.

So, what I would like to do is first say that just because other cities are doing something like this doesn't make it right, and just because it's legally sound doesn't make it right.

And there are a lot of assumptions being made about who is using or who is doing property crime in a park with no evidence that it's people experiencing homelessness.

But the main thing I want to do, because it it really bothered me reading this ordinance.

Um the idea that nothing is being done, no one's made any progress.

And so what I wanted to do is bring forward a few of the propositions that you've been brought by city staff in plans that you all have approved throughout the years.

So uh I want to start with the housing affordability action plan.

We have in their goals like advancing housing stability and ways that we can do that through providing rental assistance.

Our ERA program was extremely successful in keeping people housed for a long time.

It needs to be fully developed and continued because it has a lot of good that can keep people housed and stable.

Another one was to increase the number of permanent supportive housing units that we have.

Right now, most of the funding that goes into homeless services from the city is the emergency solutions grant.

And that has gone from about 410,000 a year when I started down to about 360,000.

But in the meantime, we've only seen need go up.

We haven't seen rents go down.

The people who provide those services are still not being paid a living wage.

And the city isn't putting any additional funding towards permanent supportive housing.

So if we want to make this a city issue, the city needs to step up and put in general funds and put our money where our mouth is.

When they did it in Mesa and in other communities in Arizona.

Nicole, your time is up.

Can you also provide your address for the record, please?

I am so sorry.

I even thought about it.

Thank you.

Next, nope, please.

We're not, let's keep it keep it quiet.

We'll just keep it moving along.

I appreciate that.

Thanks, everybody.

Did you need some?

The next speaker is Isaiah Holliday.

Isaiah.

And the speaker after Isaiah is Donnie Johnson.

So if you guys want to come up, if you're in the next speaker, Mr.

Halden, good afternoon.

Hi, uh doing my name is Isaiah Holliday.

I live at uh 2235 St.

Mary's Avenue.

And I just wanted to say, uh, Mr.

Harding, your ordinance, Mayor Ewing has gone on record calling the ordinance inhumane.

And I would have to agree.

I'm sure a lot of the people sitting in the stands would have to agree.

Criminalizing the conduct of the homelessness does not solve any of the root causes of that homelessness.

You could jail every single homeless person on the street.

Tomorrow there would still be someone becoming homeless.

Hey, sorry, just real quick.

There's no snapping and no clapping.

Folks, let's let's keep this quiet.

No clapping or do a lot of unit, though.

I do.

Even if you are for or against it, let's just keep it, we'll move the meeting along.

Thank you.

Go ahead and start your time now, I see up thanks.

Right.

Uh so the the pilot project that Mayor Ewing has suggested, rather than finding and jailing the homeless, has the idea of setting them up with the many nonprofit organizations around Omaha and actually trying to get them connected to a support system rather than slapping them with a fine that you know that they will be unable to pay.

Um it frames our neighbors as an other group as a subhuman group that's deserving of punishment, in my opinion.

So it I would urge every member of the council to go with Mayor Ewing's pilot project.

Rather than going with this ordinance, which would only not address the causes but the effects of all these problems.

It would only lead to more people becoming homeless, in my opinion.

But thank you.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Yes.

Next speaker is Donnie Johnson, followed by Aaron Feischinger.

Uh good afternoon.

I'm Hall City Council, Don ER Johnson at Johnson Creston Foundation, North America Citizen Foundation, 4928 North 52nd Street.

I like to go back for a second, we go back to at least 10 years when President Bush allocated some of those veterans that go live on the street.

Mr.

Harding has brought something to the community, and it everyone's have a chance to voice your opinion.

And my jobs and make sure he stayed on track so we can get to Congress.

So he has brought all you folks here.

And I look at some of the things.

If you go to jail, there are guys out on the street who would prefer to go to jail because they haven't had a meal in two or three days, two or three weeks.

So that's not a bad thing.

You have to go to jail for 30 days to get some food.

I was working on some other project President Bush put together for us 10 years back.

And yes, uh, Mayor Hume, you and come up with a program, but at the same time, we should give Mr.

Harding the City Council uh some type of uh respect for bringing this before the council.

So if you're out on the streets and you haven't eaten, jail might not be a bad thing.

Some people go around and commit a crime just to go to jail to get a food.

And you look at the whole process, they are bringing us here to explain.

If you go down Saddle Creek, someone come up to your car in a four days, let's go back to 1970.

South Africa, they put torches around their cars to burn people up if they're coming up to their car.

At least they're not saying about that.

So these young folks probably wouldn't be born at the time.

We're trying to figure out South Africa.

Why are you gonna burn up humans who come around your car asking for money?

So we're in the right track.

Mr.

Harding, did you get a B for this?

But you gotta stay on A so we can get you to Congress, Danny.

Thank you.

Miss Aaron Feischinger.

And the next speaker is after Aaron is Jessica Van Der Coy.

Council President Bagley, members of Omaha City Council.

My name is Dr.

Aaron Feitinger.

I'm the policy director for the Women's Fund of Omaha.

Address 1111 North 13th Street, Omaha, Nebraska, 68102.

We offer our opposition to the proposed ordinance, criminalizing homelessness because of the disparate impact this will have on women in our community.

A few day data points for you to consider.

Women are consistently overrepresented in Douglas County eviction court.

In Douglas County, over 60% of tenants in courtroom 20, just downstairs where evictions happen are women.

The number of women evicted is 16% higher than their male counterparts, and that number grows for black women who are evicted at a rate 36% higher than black men.

Given the Omaha Chambers recent report that we've all read, I'm sure, um, showing the disparate uh gap in poverty along racial lines.

I think this should particularly concern us and be paid attention to.

Additionally, 50% 57% of all homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness, whether needing to leave or through an eviction.

We also know that children are most at risk for eviction before the age of five.

And we know that having children in a rental household is the equivalent for risk of eviction as falling four months behind in rent.

Eviction filings in Douglas County continue at a steady pace.

In 2023, we reached an 11-year high at 5,009-5 evictions in Douglas County.

In 2024, that number was 4,939.

And as of July this year, 2,600 of our Omaha neighbors have received an eviction notice.

Those filings turn into an eviction 76.4% of the time.

When we consider these numbers with the consistent reports that we do not have enough affordable housing and that our shelters are at capacity, or with the news that yet another large apartment building housing low-income tenants is being shuttered for health and safety reasons, we have to anticipate that our neighbors will experience homelessness.

Additional cuts to critical social safety net programs in the next few years will only exacerbate this problem.

And the response to these numbers is not further punishment.

It is not adding additional penalties for our neighbors in need.

The response is addressing the root causes of homelessness, which is admittedly much more difficult than simply putting people in jail.

There are sincere, thoughtful, data-driven solutions to homelessness, and we can take serious steps together towards those solutions.

Just last week, this council approved or had the public hearing on, I guess you approved it today.

A 40 million dollar investment in affordable housing.

Let's see how that goes.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jessica Vanderkoy, followed by Eileen Brady.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jessica Vandercoy, 5605 Northern Hills Drive, and I'm here representing the National Association of Social Workers.

Social workers across the country are voting block of 700,000 social workers are interested in sound policy and properly funding services to help resolve social issues on the micro-meso and macro level.

As a profession, we are not in support of misusing law enforcement to solve social issues.

Any serious policy proposal must be tested on three questions.

Will it solve the issue?

Is it sustainable and is it evidence-based?

The only thing that makes sense about this ordinance is that you are not actually trying to solve the problem or to do it sustainably.

And I think we could find agreement in this time of lots of divisiveness.

Um, that good questions that any successful business owner or or someone proposing change anyway will ask three questions as a test, is if I'm willing to spend my own money, will it create the outcome I want?

Um is it sustainable and is there data to support my idea?

Um the issue with this ordinance, um, we're not aiming for the same outcome, and I think that's part of the problem and why though those three test questions become kind of confusing.

Proponents frame this ordinance around two ideas, visibility and public safety, but the anticipated outcome of this ordinance isn't fewer people unhoused or greater safety, it's fewer people in sight while reinforcing the false narrative that a parent's appearance and situation define safety worth and ability.

This is a familiar strategy in our country, declaring people unqualified, unsafe, or unworthy based on appearance or situation.

And you are providing um exactly why uh protective policies for people who potentially you don't like or don't understand or have um implicit bias towards uh that uh that we need policies to protect humans from policies like this, and quite honestly, uh people um like you who want to push dangerous narratives that how you look determines if you are safe, qualified, or worthy.

The council has leaned on safety as a slogan and not asking these test questions to um propose policies in the past.

Armored vehicles for Omaha police department, which we know doesn't lead to safer communities, uh trust and community policing do.

Um fighting mask mandates um doesn't lead us to fewer amounts of people with ev uh with illness.

Um the evidence is clear.

Um let's put the test to this ordinance.

Does sanctioning living people uh sanctioning people living in um public spaces, getting a ticket, a warrant, jail time back to the streets, another ticket, another warrant, another jail stay solve the problem.

It doesn't, it doesn't actually reduce the number of people who are unhoused.

In fact, it's expensive.

Is it sustainable only if you plan to hand out hand out tickets for years, pile up warrants, and eventually use that cycle to justify building a bigger jail.

Um, what we'll end up with is more tickets, more warrants, more unpaid fines, and larger jails, not fewer people who are housed.

So let's set aside the slogans and apply the test to uh what Omaha really needs, which is improved access.

Time thank you.

Thanks for coming today.

Yep.

Next speaker is Eileen Brady, followed by Rileen Barnes.

Good afternoon, members of the city council.

My name is Aileen Brady.

I'm the CEO at Committee Alliance, 7150 Arbor Street.

Community Alliance is a behavioral health organization providing a range of uh treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for persons with mental health and substance use challenges.

We've provided outreach, housing assistance, and supportive services to unhoused individuals since 1986, especially those with mental health and substance use challenges.

I struggle to see the what this proposal will do to advance the goal of reducing and ending homelessness for Omaha citizens, specifically specifically those who are unhoused.

It will increase costs for law enforcement and community corrections with people incarcerated for days or perhaps weeks with no advancement toward obtaining housing or receiving the mental health and substance use services that they need.

It will further increase the barriers for individuals seeking housing with a new arrest record.

And it will further tie up law enforcement and transporting individuals to our emergency shelters if the person chooses that option instead of a citation in jail.

None of these steps will help us reach our common goal of reducing and homelessness.

The faces of those we serve continue to change year over year.

But what has not changed enough is to it hasn't changed enough to keep up with the need is the availability of safe, quality, and affordable housing and the supportive services of mental health and substance use that are necessary for individuals to obtain and retain their housing.

Let's look to solutions that are productive and will lift people up who find themselves in these circumstances.

Solutions that have long we have long talked about, with not enough action behind them.

Let's address the concerns facing the city and the citizens of Omaha together, and let's all take some reason some responsibility to do so in a way that does not cause more harm, more barriers, and more distrust of the system.

Community alliance is ready to collaborate, as we have in the past years with threshold continuum of care and with the city that involves real answers and with everyone coming to the table with resources to help reduce the underlying issues that cause homelessness.

I ask you to vote no to this proposed ordinance, and let's continue the conversations that include real solutions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Rileen Barnes.

Followed by Chris Kenoff.

My name is Ryland Barnes.

2705 North 20th Street.

I'm here today as a res, not just as a resident of Omaha, but as a neighbor.

I'm asking you to treat our most vulnerable neighbors like people, not a problem to be solved.

This ordinance is not just punishment and persecution.

You're targeting people for being poor, for being visible and for existing in public.

Let me be clear that the people you're targeting, they're not lazy, unmotivated, they're down on their luck, and they really need the city, the community, us, the neighbors, and you, the people in charge, to care about them and want them to be better, not want them out of your sight.

We don't need handcuffs, we need housing.

And right now, Omaha isn't delivering, according to the Omaha Housing Authority.

From 2010 to 2019, we produced 13,557 homes.

But in the past five years, we've only produced 910.

That's according to the Omaha Housing Authority.

At that track, we we will never be able to have enough housing.

You complain about your own constituents, but you're using taxpayer dollars to make the roads out west all pristine while these people have to sleep on the sidewalks that haven't been repaired.

We do need affordable housing, but we also need programs, real community support and mental health services and funding to go towards them like the nonprofits here in Omaha that have helped me and do work and just need better funding because we have a big problem.

When our neighbors are down, we don't look we don't kick them.

We give them a hand and we pull them up.

It's cruel, it's short-sighted, it's unjust, and I'm asking you not just as a resident, but as your neighbor to vote no.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Chris Kanoff, followed by Cassie Barrett.

Good afternoon, Council.

Chris Kinoff, CEO of the Stevens Center.

Business address 2723 Q Street in Omaha, personal address 2514 North Hundred and Eighty Seventh Avenue in Elcorn.

I give you my business and my personal address because personally and professionally I'm absolutely disgusted at this ordinance.

As someone who serves this community and as someone who is a neighbor, who is a husband, who is a father, who's a Catholic, this is reprehensible.

This morning I read that Councilman Harding complained about the lack of communication with the mayor regarding the issue of homelessness in our community.

I find it ironic that Councilman Harding levies such criticism when he himself has never reached out to the people on the front lines.

Had Councilman Harding talked to me, here's what I would have said.

First, most shelters in Omaha, including Stevens Center, are already at or near capacity every single day.

This year alone, Stevens Stevens Center has turned away women, men, and families with children more than 3100 times because we simply had no available beds.

These are individuals who are sober, drug-free, and actively seeking safety, food, and a plan forward.

Under this ordinance, the choice left to them would be jail at the cost of 170 dollars a day billed directly to taxpayers.

I also would have told him that he does not appear to understand the difference between a high barrier shelter and a low barrier one.

A high barrier shelter, one that opens its doors to family and children, requires a sober, dry environment.

The demand for these spaces among those experiencing homelessness far exceeds the number of beds available.

Yet instead of working to expand these critically needed resources, this ordinance would leave families and individuals with no option other than jail and foster homes.

I would have told him that in cities our size or larger, shelters receive city and state operational support.

That makes a meaningful difference in our budgets.

In Omaha, philanthropy is left to foot the bill.

While Councilman Harding seems comfortable paying for jail beds instead of shelter beds.

These teams have helped more than 400 families and individuals take steps towards housing.

Just two months ago, one man who had been unhoused for 10 years finally trusted our outreach team enough to say yes.

And today, he lives in an apartment, continuing to work with the individuals who showed him the respect and dignity that has allowed him to believe in a better life ahead.

Had this ordinance been in place, he would not have had the time or the support to get there.

He would have been in jail, saddled with fines, cut off from work, and pushed further away from housing.

That is the pattern this ordinance will create.

More people returning to the streets, a heavier strain on emergency rooms, higher cost to taxpayers, and bigger barriers to jobs and housing.

It will deliver exactly the opposite of what council Councilman Harding claims to want.

Finally, had he talked to me.

Councilman Harding.

Your time's up.

I'm sorry, your three minutes is up.

Thanks for coming today.

Next speaker is Cassie Barrett, followed by Nicole Sakis.

I'm sorry, I'll do the best I can with the names.

Okay.

Thank you.

My name's Cassie Barrett.

My address is 2627 North 71st Street in Omaha 68104 is my zip code.

Um I work as a case manager at Together in our permanent housing, permanent supportive housing program.

Um in that program, I work with some of our most vulnerable um neighbors who are on the streets.

So the folks I work with have been experiencing homelessness for the longest periods of time, and they also tend to have multiple disabilities.

Sometimes that includes substance use disorders or mental illnesses.

I would argue that as often as the mental illnesses are the cause of their homelessness, they are also the effect of the homelessness.

Living on the streets for years and years can really change your mind and your body and have a really profound impact on you.

And I just think that it's it's a lot more multifaceted than people realize.

I also uh would like to point out I've heard a lot of people say today that they want to see us do something.

They want, you know, progress to be made, work to be done.

Um, there is work being done.

There are dozens of people in this room right now that have dedicated their lives to this work and spend nights and weekends and countless hours trying to find housing for the people on the streets.

Um, and I think um Chris, who was just up here pointed out there is just not enough of these resources.

There's not enough people doing it, there's not enough funds to pay the people to do it.

Um, there's literally not enough beds and shelter for everyone who's on the streets to have a place and shelter.

Um, and then that doesn't even account for various barriers that might come into play when someone's trying to access shelters.

So families with children, there are only three shelters in our area that um will accept families with children.

Most of them will separate teenage boys from their families or not accept them at all.

Um shelter together in most instances.

People with severe disabilities or medical challenges cannot go to certain shelters in a lot of cases.

So a lot of times the people that you're seeing on the streets are really the most vulnerable of our neighbors, and they really just need compassion, and at the end of the day, they need housing.

And that's it.

I'll be done.

Thank you.

Nicole is the next speaker.

Followed by Diana Fayala.

And thanks in advance.

If I get your name wrong, I'm trying hard here, so thanks everybody.

Please.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Nicole Sakis.

I'm here to urge you to vote against this ordinance.

Um this ordinance is not a solution, it's an act of punishment against people who are already suffering.

Imagine losing your home, your job, and all of your supports.

And instead of being offered help, you're threatened with arrest and a fine that you cannot pay.

This does not create safety, it creates despair.

From a policy perspective, criminalizing homelessness has been shown again and again to be ineffective and costly.

Cities that have enacted similar measures have spent millions on enforcement, court costs, and jail stays.

Funds that could have been used to build housing, provide case management, and expand our services.

Jail time does not resolve the trauma of being unhoused, it compounds it.

Fines do not incentivize stability, they trap people in a cycle of debt, debt and incarceration.

And beyond policy, we must not forget the human cost.

Each encampment you see is not a nuisance.

These are people.

People with stories, with families, and with potential.

People who are trying to survive.

When we choose to criminalize where someone can sleep, we're saying their very existence is unacceptable.

That is not who we are as a community.

There are alternatives, proven effective alternatives, housing first models reduce homelessness, and cost less jail.

Partnerships with nonprofits and faith communities expand capacity.

Supportive housing, outreach, and prevention, keep people safe and move them towards stability.

These are the kind of investments that bring real change, not ordinances that push people further into the margins.

Please reject this ordinance.

Let's build solutions that reflect our values and honor the dignity of every resident in this city.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Deanna is followed by Jennifer McAvoy.

Good afternoon.

My name is Deanna Faila, and I live at 627 South 67th Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska.

I speak today as a proud Omaha resident, a civic advocate, and someone deeply committed to the dignity of every person who calls this city home.

I am also here today as president of Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, an alliance of 17 neighborhoods in Midtown Omaha.

Midtown is the urban core of the city.

And it also experiences a lot of homelessness.

Midtown Neighborhood Alliance stands in opposition to the proposed ordinance that would fine individuals experiencing homelessness, $300, and subject them to 30 days in jail for being found in public encampments.

This isn't a solution.

It's a misdirection of values, our resources, and our responsibility.

We do not want our jails to become temporary shelters.

They are overstretched beyond capacity, and jails were never designed to house the homeless and families with children, nor to serve as a temporary refuge for food either.

Criminalizing homelessness does not make it disappear, it simply pushes it out of sight at great cost to both the individual and the community.

It does cost, and we've heard this figure, 170 dollars a day to jail one person.

And that doesn't include the cost of law enforcement, court filings, and the storage of belongings.

I'm told it costs just $50 a day to place up to three people in an apartment.

That's more than just a moral difference.

It's a fiscal one.

We're not here just to oppose, we're here to offer a better path forward, one that reflects Omaha's values and invests in real outcomes.

Some doable alternatives we've discussed at great length in Midtown and amongst our neighborhoods, and with input of experts as well.

So I agree that education is a huge component for uh for the opposition of this ordinance.

We can expand shelters and diversify housing access, but not just more housing.

We need diversified housing that meets the needs of homeless populations or potentially homeless populations as well, those that are going into homelessness.

That means rehabilitative housing, mental health housing, physical therapy, senior living.

Did you know that seniors age 55 and older are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, driven by rising rents and fixed incomes.

We need to respond accordingly.

We can expand emergency shelters, beds, and transitional housing, and our shelters are already operating at 95% in any given day.

Weather and other factors fluctuate those numbers.

Sanctioning encampments may sound like an alternative, and that has been discussed as well.

But they are legally time.

Thank you.

Jennifer McMackvoy is the next speaker, followed by Jason Feldhouse.

Hi, I'm Jennifer McAvoy, 4801 Pierce Street.

Um I am here as a returned Peace Corps volunteer.

Um, when I joined the Peace Corps to serve my country, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Um I want to draw your attention to U.S.

Constitutional Amendment 14, which says no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Seizure of people's property is a clear violation of Amendment 14.

And just for fun, I checked in Nebraska Constitution to see what it says.

And it also says that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

I do want to point out that there was a gentleman who spoke about a court case, um, City of Grants pass versus Johnson, the Supreme Court case.

Um I do want to clarify that that related to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, and I'm speaking of the 14th Amendment.

He did say that there will be a way for people to access their possessions if they've been seized.

I do want to tell you that I have spoken with unhoused people, and that's not how things currently work.

And so I'm not sure how if how that would work in the future.

We're talking about unhoused people and their their environment and their things.

And when we speak of unauthorized encampments, we are taking away the humanity of people.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, City Council, Jason Feldhouse, 6101 business address, Omaha, Nebraska, 7724 papilion.

I've been on the record quite a bit over the last couple days.

I debated whether I would bring in a formal statement, but I think I just want to stand before you as kind of the a member of this collaborative.

You're going to still hear a lot of testimony.

You've already heard a lot of testimony.

We can go through data, we can go through policies, we can go through that.

I think it's important for you guys to know.

I sent an email out to the mayor's office and all of you uh last Friday, kind of outlining kind of a proposal that we would like to put in place to kind of be a pilot.

And we are more than willing to help work on the benchmarks with the city council, uh report back to the city council and try to find strategies to move forward in this commitment.

I also think it's really important to have you guys understand the passion and commitment to trying to do something different, other than going this way with this ordinance.

I called all the business, all those uh organizational leaders in this community, and I asked them one thing.

Can you give me a personal favor?

That was it.

Can you give me a personal favor so we can sit down and try to come forth with a new proposal, a new plan?

We understand that we got to do things differently.

I truly do understand that.

And we understand that we need to do it with compassion, but we need to do it rapidly.

We understand that the visualization of homelessness is a problem in our community, and we do understand that citizens who are dealing with this in their backyards or in public property just behind their backyards have real concerns and rights.

And the threshold COC and our homeless system do not deny that.

We fully completely and absolutely appreciate that.

But we also believe in a partnership with you guys, the city of Omaha, and these citizens, we can find a pathway forward because I know my leaders are committed to doing things differently.

So take any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Alicia Critchardson.

Followed by George McGuinness.

Good afternoon.

Um my name is Alicia Christensen.

I'm here on behalf of Together at 812 South 24th Street.

So as you probably know, Together's mission is to assist our neighbors uh with exiting homelessness and to help them achieve housing stability.

And I think we can all agree that Omaha should pursue constructive policies to prevent and end homelessness in our community.

And it is possible to adopt adopt such solutions that acknowledge the need for the city to protect the public's health and safety, and acknowledge the dignity and the humanity of people experiencing homelessness.

Unfortunately, I think the proposed ordinance here fails to do either.

I think it purports to address some activities that create dangerous public and health and safety concerns, but it's not necessary to achieve those goals.

Existing law already allows city officials or law enforcement to remove visible homelessness and to protect the public health and safety, public property, trees, shrubs, waterways.

These are all uh covered in our existing ordinances, and it doesn't require issuing a citation for trespass on public property.

There's other mechanisms, and the sheriff's representative here that testified as a proponent mentioned that when they see these violations that are putting people in danger that constitute a public safety violation or you know fostering illegal activity, they have a duty to go in and address that, and they do, and we rely on them for that.

But there's no need to add an additional duplicative layer of law on top of what exists already.

Our work as a COC has led to a 14% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in the last year.

Over 80% of the people who exit homelessness to permanent supportive housing remain stably housed a year later.

And these productive solutions, as people have mentioned, are not only more effective, they're also more cost effective.

So we urge the council to invest in constructive solutions, and we ask the council to support organizations like Together in the work that we do each day by voting against this proposed ordinance.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker is George McGuinness, followed by Rosa Crankenberg.

Crankelberg getting close.

My name is George McGuinness.

My address is 2220 South 123rd Street.

I'm here tonight this evening to speak against this bill.

I'm a former unhoused person and addict, recovering addict.

For a long time, the only place I had to sleep was under a bridge or in a tent somewhere.

This bill proposes to find and jail a homeless person for public camping.

Let me be clear.

This is disgusting and dehumanize dehumanizing idea.

You cannot solve homelessness by punishing people for being homeless.

This bill doesn't address the root causes.

It criminalizes the symptoms.

It's like trying to cure a fever by breaking the thermometer.

Every person who is unhoused has a story.

They are not a problem to be legislated legislated away.

They are human beings who are often fighting a battle.

Many of you cannot even imagine.

They are our neighbors, our veterans, our family members.

They are individuals who have fallen on hard times and need a hand up, not a fine or jail cell.

A fine, it's it's just a debt.

A person can't pay.

A jail sentence, it's a cycle of despair that is almost impossible to break.

This bill will not make our community safer or cleaner.

It will only push people further into the shadows, making it harder for them to get the help they desperately need.

Instead of criminalizing homelessness, we should be investing in real solutions, affordable housing, mental health services, and job training programs.

We should build be building bridges, not burning them.

I know firsthand that recovery is possible.

I'm a living testament of that.

After 15 years, I got four years of living in the home.

It works if you work on the right solution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Rosa Crankelberg, followed by Steve Frazzi.

Hi, my name is Rosa Craigleberg.

I've submitted my address to the city clerk's office.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak today.

When I was just three years old, I was thrown out of a second story window.

It was an act of mercy considering what I was born into, but the foster care system and what followed proved to be no different.

The message I received from every caretaker was to be grateful for scraps and never forget where I came from.

At 17 years old, I worked full-time and moved through life as a functioning alcoholic.

When alcohol could no longer numb the pain, I turned to math and met the person that would torment me for the next five years.

I tried to remain invisible so I didn't have to see people looking at me with disgust.

Sometimes I stayed in encampments, but nowhere felt safe.

Inside was where the bad stuff happened, and outside I risked being taken.

What I wanted more than anything was to walk into the sunset and disappear, to be forgotten like I had always felt.

The message I want you to hear today is that people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Being unhoused is not a personal failure, but the result of circumstances that require compassion.

Mother Teresa committed her life to one mission, giving people their dignity.

What I lived through was a walk in the park compared to some of my unhoused fellows.

Our stories can begin tragically and with help can inspire hope for others, which is why I serve with Threshold Street Outreach Team to help find housing solutions for individuals and keep tabs on those we've not seen.

No one is forgotten.

I have been through hell to get to where I am today.

I get to live a life I love serving so many communities, feeling safe for the first time in my own apartment and paying my own bills.

Even still, the hardest lesson I've had to learn in nearly eight years of sobriety is how to ask for help.

There are so many more people like me that want to help support the unhoused community because we know it works.

It does require patience because we are asking the human brain to change the neuroplasticity and believe that hope is possible when we choose a different way.

Housing programs are way less expensive than putting a person in jail.

Mahatma Gandhi said a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members.

Please look closely at my face and remember it.

So when you see someone begging for a food or sleeping under a bridge, you think of me.

Because I am them and they are me.

For all that came before me and those that will come after me.

We know that hope is only a hand away.

Thank you.

Steve, you're followed by Tim Carter.

Hello, City Council.

Steve Frazy, uh Chief Impact Officer, Open Door Mission 28, 28, North, 23rd Street, East.

This year, open door mission is uh celebrating his 70th anniversary.

Uh we've been providing emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing that's appropriate uh to the needs of our guest students and tenants.

Uh in the men's uh area last night we slept 64 men on the floor because all of our bunks were full.

We welcome uh men, women, and families uh to our campus uh to meet their needs.

We don't ever require anyone to stay.

Uh dropping a person or a family at our door under duress is not only inappropriate, it's inhumane.

It doesn't even rise to the small standard of the good life.

Uh there are many reasons why uh people find themselves in homelessness, a mental health addiction uh defeat, uh release from incarceration, hospitalization, loss of job, domestic violence, overwhelming uh debt, medical problems, uh, and others, such as gambling.

Omaha is not in the position to universally solve those problems.

Issuing a ticket is insulting.

Um mission and other organizations like us, we solve this problem individually, one at a time.

There are federal state uh uh laws and local ordinances that place obstacles and service uh to the service provider and disincentives to those uh who are working on homelessness.

The defeat of this ordinance is only good if something else is done, something to make a difference.

Uh Omaha service uh providers uh work incredibly well together.

Just last night I got a call from Linda Toomey from Santa Francis and a need to uh place a woman and her child into shelter, and we were able to do that.

We do that with Stevens Center, uh, Micah House, and Joshua House all the time.

We work together to utilize the resources that we have to the benefit of the most.

This problem is bigger than the city.

Uh, you need to include, in my opinion, uh the uh the state officials as well, and maybe our uh federal colleagues as well to find a solution uh to be able to pay for the desired end that you are uh identifying.

I encourage uh the city to work uh with the homeless service providers.

Um just as a fun aside, we have a shovel ready project that is uh one in two bedroom apartments that is just under your 40 million dollar price tag that the mayor has put forth.

It's only $36 million.

So we can get 200 people off when we would get that construction done.

So thank you very much.

Uh please not only uh consider not uh doing this, uh, but doing something positive uh for the members of our community who aren't doing so well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Tim Carter, followed by Kate Carlson.

My name is Tim Carter, and my address is 17082 Dora Heyman Parkway.

Good afternoon, uh, Council President and members of the council.

My name is Tim Carter.

Um running for city council this past spring gave me the unique opportunity to talk directly to thousands of people across District 7.

I can tell you this Omaha voters do not support foolish ordinances that criminalize our most vulnerable.

They want solutions that work, not political theater direct, dressed up as public policy.

And let's be blunt.

Councilmember Harding is using this chamber as a platform for his congressional ambitions.

Just last month he tried to erase DEI inclusion from the city budget.

That effort failed, but it did reveal the playbook.

Culture war politics instead of solving real problems.

And now, with this ordinance, the councilman's doubling down.

Criminalizing the mere act of surviving while unhomed, and it's disgusting.

This ordinance would find people up to $300 and even send them to jail for 30 days.

And for what?

For not having a roof?

For being unlucky or going through a tough time.

We already have laws on the book and policy that focuses on outreach, which we know is the right approach.

And this proposal doesn't fix anything, it just makes life harder for people who are already struggling.

And it comes at the worst time, and you know it.

This city just lost federal COVID relief money that helped people stay in their homes over the last four years through critical rental assistance.

And from what I can see in your 2026 budget, nothing was added to replace it.

So that means more people are going to be at risk of ending up on the street instead of putting resources into housing and outreach.

This ordinance puts its energy into fines and court dates.

That doesn't solve the problem.

It just kicks it down the road.

And other cities have tried this.

Denver has showed us the camping bans lead to more arrests and instability.

Well, cities like Newark, New Jersey have showed us what actually works, and that's supportive housing, helping people get into permanent homes with services.

They saw a 57% reduction in unsheltered homelessness from 2022 to 2023 and sustained 30 to 40% drops over recent years.

When I campaigned, I stood alongside many of you on this council at forums and events, and we told voters that addressing homelessness mattered and that our city could do better in the compassion must guide policy.

I believed you with those commitments then, but Omaha voters still expect you to uphold them now.

Reject this absurd, cruel ordinance, choose solutions, not scapegoats, choose funding, not fines, and choose to lead Omaha forward with humanity.

Thank you.

And I have record for the clerk if they'd like.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Kate Carlson, and we better invite Vern Carlson with Kate.

So if you both want to come down at the same time.

And it is followed by Pete Miller after the Carlsons.

Welcome.

I'm Kate Carlson.

Our address is 800 But Board Boulevard in Papilion.

Nebraska Nice.

I've lived in all of the surrounding states of Nebraska as well as Colorado and Minnesota.

I've also lived in Germany for almost seven years, and I've traveled all over Europe, a lot of different countries there.

Retiring last year after working most of my life with special ed, developmentally disabled, vulnerable populations, as well as in property management field.

The last property management company I worked for, my district manager was more interested in me evicting residents rather than working with them and helping them make payment arrangements, which um which was well within my the SOP and my ability as confirmed by the president of the company.

In Omaha, the average two-bedroom apartment costs 1,400 to $1,700 a month.

To qualify for apartments housing, you need to make at least three times the amount of rent.

For a two-bedroom at $1,700 a month, you pay, you would need to have $5,100 a month, which is $61,200 a year.

38% of households in Omaha have an income of $50,000 or less.

$55 to 46% make sixty thousand dollars or less a year.

The legal right to housing, the Dallow Law in France, Sweden, and Norway have strong um uh strong housing and tenant protections, comprehensive social safety networks, health care, mental health, and addiction services, minimum in minimum income and unemployment benefits, subsidized housing, or rent caps, public housing investments, public or cooperative housing, integrated support services.

Um I won't go into all the details of that.

It comes down to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

We need to take care of the vulnerable population.

If people don't have their basic needs met, how do you expect them to survive and thrive?

This is not Nebraska nice.

Most European countries are top ranking in the happiness index.

America is at about 24 out of the civilized countries, if you want to call it that, or industrialized countries.

We can do better, and we must do better.

Again, Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Find real solutions.

So Vern Carlson, 800 buck Board Boulevard.

Um, I do see both sides of this issue.

Everybody wants clean cities and safe citizens.

Uh, but this is a politicized event, so I'm gonna go into some politics here.

Republican cuts to social programs, low-income schools, SNAP, Medicaid, the war on drugs, lack of corporate regulation, corporate greed, lack of affordable housing, income and wealth inequality, and tax cuts for the rich and corporations will exacerbate the root cause problems of homelessness and our national debt.

Republican policies will swamp the homeless shelters Mr.

Harding wants to build.

Nonprofits aren't going to cut it when there are deep systemic issues at play.

Apartment complexes that hastily evict tenants, like my wife just alluded to for late rent payment are a major problem.

The companies with high eviction rates should be investigated, and if they are found to be bad actors, they should be fined or have their charters removed.

Rent assistance could help as a stopgap measure.

Companies that actively damage the communities they relied on reside in need to be dealt with.

A renter that has an eviction on their record has a problem.

No one will want to rent to a person that has who has been homeless or evicted or who has an arrest record because of fear their property will be trashed or they will not be paid rent.

So some solutions are to the lack of affordable housing, if expand affordable housing stock via zoning reforms and incentives, target 30,000 storage unit units, scale rapid rehousing and emergency rent assistance to prevent evictions, build family-specific shelters and encampment outreach for mental health issues, integrate supportive housing with on-site mental health services, expand Siena Francis house programs, increase access to low barrier treatment via street outreach teams for substance abuse fund harm reduction and treatment programs, sobriety optional shelters, pair with job training for recovery support, low-income unemployment, provide employment services and wage subsidies tied to housing vouchers, advocate for minimum wage increases, and workforce development, domestic violence, bolster specialized DV shelters and legal aid for protective orders, offer trauma informed family reunification.

And again, because this is political theater.

He later apologized for that statement.

The next speaker is Mr.

Pete Miller, followed by Jeannie Metzger.

Hi, my name is Pete Miller.

My address is 5015 North 104th Street, Omaha 68134.

I've been working in street outreach in Omaha since 2011, and I've seen it grow from a small handful of folks to the mighty team it is today, a team I am incredibly honored to coordinate, made up of representatives from 15 agencies.

These outreach case managers are some of the hardest working people I've known in my 30 years in the field.

And every day I am in awe of what they do.

Bringing services to people where they are, whether that's food and blankets, or direct medical care, or connecting them with mental health services, helping them obtain IDs and Social Security cards, driving them to apply for apartments and making sure they get the small but essential help of that first month's rent and deposit.

And after they move in, some furniture.

This could all sound naive, except that it works.

That approach, that coordinated street outreach response, that compassionate, humane response helped get 443 people off the streets into permanent housing last year.

443 people.

Scattering encampments, throwing out people's belongings, traumatize traumatizing people with sweeps, clogging up the justice system, diverting police resources.

None of those does a single thing to house anyone.

Makes it harder to house them.

The people living on the streets of Omaha are not strangers.

There are family members, our former classmates, our fellow citizens, your constituents, our neighbors, our friends.

Please stand on the right side here, the side that's both compassionate and rational.

Please vote no on this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jeannie is followed.

Jeannie Metzger is followed by Sarah Paul.

I'm Jeannie Mesger, 1547 for Corby Street, 68116.

You've heard it before, but this is a reminder that not everybody can go to a shelter.

There's a lot of reasons why shelters turn people away.

Or because the shelters are full.

All of those are reasons that people get turned away.

So giving people a choice between going to a shelter or taking the $300 fine isn't really a choice for a lot of people.

And then I noticed that in April of last year, you Councilman Harding brought another proposal for an ordinance change that passed that increased the limits, it increased the restrictions on where people on the registry are able to live.

So over years with the increasing number of people on the registry, that is going to move more people into homelessness.

So you bear some responsibility when it comes to increasing res increasing homelessness.

And then my other observation is that 170 a day to jail someone means that you're willing to pay for their housing, but it has to be in jail.

So think about paying for their housing in a nicer place than jail.

Telling the homeless to go home isn't really a solution.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Sarah Paul, followed by Courtney Carran.

Hi.

I am Sarah Paul Ramirez.

My address is 5027 South 23rd Street.

As a retired community health nurse, I agree with the previous speakers that the proposed ordinance will not solve any problems and is likely to cause more.

So I encourage you all to vote no and get on to other things.

Thank you.

Next speaker after Courtney is Caneto Wainwright.

Hi, my name is Courtney Caron.

Uh 6112 North 109th Street in Omaha, Nebraska, 68164.

And I also work for the VA as a social worker in homeless programs.

And I can tell you every single day I meet with somebody new, whether it's via phone or in person who is homeless.

Currently, I have 40 people in my caseload.

20.

24 of them are in some variety of street homelessness.

They're in their cars, they are in encampments, they are in just wherever they can find.

Very high numbers of folks who have nowhere to go.

Of those 24, 14 of them are women and children who have been turned away from the shelters repeatedly because the women and children's beds are full.

They call daily every once in a while, but once every six months I see somebody get in.

But there's just not enough beds.

And they have nowhere to go.

And because the shelters have to turn them away because they cannot take care of themselves, and they have since lost housing, they are under the bridge.

They're on the streets.

The most vulnerable people I can picture are the people who would be impacted.

One of the biggest barriers that I think a lot of folks aren't aware of comes with housing is documents.

I have to waste so much time just to get a letter from the Social Security Office so that I can get somebody a Section 8 voucher.

We don't have enough Section 8 vouchers in our housing programs as the VA, and neither does the city.

And we need things like increased Section 8 housing.

We need non-congregate shelters.

And I would strongly encourage any citizen who is worried about an encampment near them, instead of calling 911 instead of calling the non-emergency police, call the street outreach.

I have their phone numbers, I have the access points.

But there are folks we don't know about, and if you call 911, that solution is not gonna come.

But if you call street outreach, something might change.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Canetta Wainwright, followed by Joy Catharima.

Hello, my name's Anetta Birdardi, and I'm 62 years old.

My best friend Chrissy died on the streets because they would not let her in because she had um support animal.

They would not let her in, she had seizures, and that's the reason why this dog was with her, but they wouldn't let her in the shelter.

It took me over a year of staying in the shelter to accommodate a new place to live, which I lived a year and a half, but because I had no staff to help me, remember things, I was evicted.

So I've lived homelessly without a place to stay for numerous months now.

And I just don't understand why as old as people have to stay on the streets.

I don't understand it.

We've we've paid for what we we should have, but we don't get it, and I I just don't understand it, and that's all I got to say.

Thanks.

Okay.

Okay.

Not Wayne Wright.

This is Ken.

Yeah.

Good afternoon.

My name's Canetta Wainwright.

Um, I don't have an address, but you guys know that because I was here about six weeks ago.

Um nothing has changed for me in particular.

However, I wanted to discuss the fact that the encampments, although they are not something that I don't believe in encampments, I don't believe in litter, I don't believe in public drunkenness, and I don't believe in panhandling.

Um I think I warned a group of property owners about this eight years ago, and it came to fruition.

However, I don't believe in the criminalization of an economic issue that should have been solved, and it should have been solved under the McKinney Vento Act, it should have been solved when it was um uh revised under the Hearth Act and under the Harth Act, um, Section 896-3612, develop constructive alternative to criminalizing criminalizing homelessness and laws and policies that prohibit sleeping, feeding, sitting, resting, or lying in public spaces.

That is part of the hearth act.

So to your attorney, look at the hearth act, and then think about what you said at the beginning of this conversation.

There has been, even though it was during the pandemic, there was 47 million dollars in 2022, 2023, 20, and then another 67 million dollars the following year just to the continuum of care.

So how come we haven't ended homelessness?

We have interagency uh councils on homelessness.

There's 19 agencies in that council.

You mean to tell me that out of all of the federal agencies that work together, you guys haven't ended homelessness yet.

So I do uh have an issue with you having a housing or homelessness coordinator.

First off, home is where the heart is.

So it's not a homeless coordinator you should have.

You should have your time is up.

Your three minutes is up.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Next speaker is Joey Katarima.

I do want to say something because Ma'am, your your time is up.

I got to cut you off into three minutes.

Thank you.

I want to clarify.

Joy, you're the next speaker, ma'am.

I don't know.

The person before me was not me.

Ma'am.

That's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Joy Katarima is the next speaker, followed by Terry Crawford.

Katharema, you had it right originally the first time.

Good afternoon, Council Bummer.

My name is Joy Catherine.

I'm here on behalf of the ACLU of Nebraska.

Address is 134 South 13th Street, Suite 1010 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

My personal address is 5660 South 96 Court, Omaha, Nebraska.

I work as policy counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska, and for nearly 60 years in Nebraska, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights and individual rights of all people.

Beyond one person, party or side, we the people dare to create a more perfect union.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the percentage of people in Douglas County living in poverty is 12%.

Citations and fines should not be imposed on people for policy choices that keep people in poverty.

Citations that are impossible for someone experiencing homelessness to pay only leads to escalating debt, damaged credit, and jail time, each of which creates further obstacles to attain housing.

A survey of respondents in Seattle, which has a similar ordinance, found that legal fines and resulting debts extended homelessness by nearly two years.

This body has heard a number of creative solutions offered today in opponent testimony.

I would urge this body to consider those versus trying to arrest our neighbors who are experiencing the trauma of poverty.

We can't not arrest our way out of homelessness.

Removing unhoused people from public spaces without doing anything to help them is inhumane and degrading.

Laws that make it a crime to be homeless waste money, make communities less safe, and make it harder to solve homelessness.

Instead of passing counterproductive laws, you should be focusing your energy on ensuring that everybody has a safe place to call home.

By ensuring that everybody has housing and support that meets their needs, we are able to build a safer and healthier and more just community.

We urge you to consider the opposition testimony that you've heard today and vote against punishing our neighbors.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Terry Crawford, followed by Dominique Miller.

Good evening.

My name is Terry Crawford.

I am second vice president for the NAACP Omahal branch.

I am also a resident.

It also uh risk violating constitutional protections.

I know the attorney talked about uh the case that went before the United States Supreme Court, and that was based on uh separating conduct basis status, and I don't know exactly how we do that because it's criminalizing both of those things when we are looking to incarcerate people because they don't have a home.

There was a case that also went before the Tenth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, it's Martin V.

Boise, where that court hailed in 2019 that cities cannot punish individuals for sleeping outdoors when there are no adequate shelter alternatives that exist.

So we have to ask ourselves in Omaha, Nebraska, are there adequate attorney?

Adequate alternatives that exist for these people.

I think we have to say that there's a resounding no to that question.

So what do we do about it?

Well, I think there should be a call to action.

I see them on the yellow light.

Urge the council today to reject this ordinance in its current form.

And if there's a way to revive it.

You're welcome.

Next speaker is Dominique Miller, followed by Sophie Gravy.

Hello, uh, my name is Dominique Miller, 3129 South 41st Street, Omaha, Nebraska, 68105.

Um, before I get started, I believe uh, Mr.

Coos, you called some of these unhoused neighbors of o' homes and tents, camping paraphernalia.

Uh, as a peer support specialist with a local nonprofit here who works with primarily unhoused uh neighbors, I would just like to give you a list of things that we compiled this morning for them to bring for me to bring to you of things that have been taken due to them having camping paraphernalia.

Uh direct express cards, which is their primary source of income when their SSI is deposited.

If that it comes up missing, along with their IDs, social security cards, birth certificates, all three of these things are needed in order to replace this direct express card, which is their only form of any type of income.

Uh their snap cards, their medical insurance cards, which at that point will hinder any type of mental health care or emergency visits or any type of care that they're needing uh for uh they fall in the lids trying to get back to their encampment and they have blisters and things, and now they are no longer able to be seen because they don't have their insurance card because their camping paraphernalia was taken.

Uh they have lost ashes of their mothers.

They have lost baby pictures of the only pictures that they have of themselves, their family, their children.

They have lost obituaries of their loved ones, their clothing, my home, and everything I own.

So, with that being said, again, I am a peer sport specialist at a local nonprofit.

I work primarily with street homeless peers, and I am also the daughter of a man that has experienced street homelessness on and off for the last 25 years of my life and his life due to his own mental health.

The most impactful thing I've learned in my years is the look of exhaustion on people's faces when they're told again and again they need to keep moving.

You can't be here.

We've called the police, there's nowhere for you to rest.

It's endless motion, corner to corner, sidewalk to sidewalk, constant reminders that you don't belong.

So you go to a shelter, but today Omaha does not have enough shelter beds.

The number is the story.

People who live on unsheltered in Omaha have grown eightfold in the last decade.

Over 1,500 people are in housed in our metro city.

It costs $36,000 a year to cycle a person through police, jail, ER, and shelters, but supportive housing with wraparound care services costs about $13,000 a year, saving $23,000 per person or more than 11 million annually if we just helped 500 people.

I would like to know the data you are using to support spending 11 million dollars a year of taxpayer money for something that is ineffective at the pro at solving the problem.

How does this excessive spending spend improve the situation for anyone at all?

There is an enormous amount of data showing that wraparound supportive housing is both cost-efficient and effective at minimizing housing instability.

This last weekend in Minneapolis, someone shot at least five people in an encampment on private land.

The city bulldozed the private landowner's rights by bulldozing the encampment the day after it happened.

In an interview, the landowner pointed out that.

Yeah, you're three minutes is up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Sophie Gravy, followed by Angel Sharp.

Um, dear Omaha City Council, my name is Sophie Gravy.

I live at 5013 California Street.

Um I stand today in opposition to this ordinance.

As someone who works with unhoused individuals daily, I can tell this ordinance is coming from people who do not care about them.

This is an ordinance that criminalizes homelessness, plain and simple.

The people that support this ordinance just don't want to have to see unhoused people.

And I think that that's really sad.

It's a shame that some want to turn their back on our city's most vulnerable.

If you don't work with unhoused, you may not know that shelters are often not the safest place for them to be.

And like many people have said earlier, a lot of our unhoused individuals can't go to these shelters.

Um, and we also don't have enough room in our shelters, as people from the Stevens Center and I'm sure many of others said they're sleeping on the floors.

Um, they're so full every day.

I have people come into my office, I work with Dominique.

We can't get them into a shelter.

We literally bring them because if we call, they're gonna say that they're full, and we just have to show up there.

That's something that happens every single day at my office.

Um, this ordinance is not a solution.

We need more affordable low barrier housing in Omaha.

We need more adequate mental health and substance use care in our city, because that's really the root cause of homelessness in the whole United States.

How lucky and privileged are you, um, Harding to have never had homelessness touch you personally?

You are so removed from this world that you are willing to be so cruel to our most vulnerable neighbors.

As many have already said, there are dozens here today that have dedicated their lives to this work, including me.

We don't need more red lines, we need more resources and people that care.

If you pass this ordinance, that shows me you haven't listened to us or our unhoused neighbors, and you don't care too.

City council members, I implore you, implore you to do the right thing and vote no on this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Angel Sharp, followed by Cecilia Schneider.

Angel Sharp, my address is 3738 Francis Street.

I am standing here today to oppose this bill that would fine 300 for camping on public property.

This next statement may shock you, but I know firsthand what it's like because I've been homeless.

I've held laid down at night, not knowing if I'd be woken up by the cold, by hunger, or by someone, including police telling me to move along.

And in those moments, what's hurt the most was the struggle to survive.

It was feeling like I was being treated as a criminal, not a human being in need of help.

I want it to be said that by police taking on housed, that puts fear into the community that makes the unhoused people not only be afraid of the police, which in turn can make them not only be scared to ask for help, but ultimately view the police as there to harm and not to help.

I want to also point out that when someone goes to jail and someone asks why they're there, and the answer is because I am homeless, that also makes the judicial system and the police seem like a joke and that they are bored.

A $300 fine would not have gotten me off the street.

It would have not buried, it would have only buried me deeper in hopelessness.

What I needed then and what these people need now was understanding shelter, and as you've heard, a chance to rebuild.

Well, I do understand that those unhoused some sometimes act out of criminal criminality.

Want you to try and understand that sometimes there's no job that will hire these that have don't have an ID, and most of the homeless don't have them.

I currently have someone in my life who, if he would have not had me in his life, would indeed be homeless.

He is not a drug user, a criminal, or someone who wants to be harming others.

He's just someone who happens to be in need of help along the journey of life.

He happens to have me while there are others who don't have anyone and are forced to be out and part of the public unhoused.

I do not think this bill offers a way forward.

I think it will push punish people for being poor.

I think it hides the problem instead of solving it.

So I ask you to consider compassion over punishment and real solutions over quick fixes.

Thank you.

Cecilia Schneider is followed by Katrina Eilers.

Hello, my name is Cecilia Schneider from 1141 South 30th Avenue, 68105.

I speak from experience, lived experience.

I was homeless as a teenager.

I've stayed in youth shelters and DCYC when shelters were full or refused to take me.

I volunteered at Sienna Francis Heart Ministry Center, Open Door Mission and Bethlehem House.

And I have been and am a coworker, friend, neighbor, and loved one of homeless people.

This ordinance fails to acknowledge the root causes of homelessness and the failure of local shelters to provide safe, non-congregant housing, which is a major reason people choose to sleep elsewhere.

Because what is their choice?

They deserve dignity, compassion, and respect.

The same afforded all of us who have not been accused of a crime or have not fallen on hard times in the public.

Forego this ordinance that claims homeless people are different from us.

They're not entitled to public spaces like the rest of us.

They should be out of sight and out of mind.

Without proper interest in the causes of homelessness, the local jail will fill with homeless people and overflow back into public spaces eventually, as our community members are becoming homeless at a terrible percentage.

Do not fool yourselves or us into thinking that our population of homeless people will not grow if you threaten them with incarceration or unsafe or unaccommodated beds in overcrowded shelters.

That should be our cause for concern.

Why are people left to sleep through deadly weather in vulnerable public spaces?

Why are our community members unable to afford housing, transportation, or health care?

Why are disabled veterans having to sleep outside with their service dogs?

Locking homeless people into cells with accused aggressors, further traumatize our most vulnerable members of our community.

That goes for jail and shelters.

Not every homeless person is aggressive or dangerous.

But this ordinance makes the claim that they are.

Do not fool yourself.

Umtil we create a better alternative to sleeping outside, we should not blame homeless people for doing so.

And allow people, all people the right to keep themselves safe the ways they know how.

When I was homeless, I was a teenager, and I made a list of what I wanted.

I wanted privacy, safety, to be healthy, comfortable, and have long-term stability, and have trusted and loved ones by my side.

You break families up by forcing them into shelters.

You break that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Katrina Eilers is followed by Elise Emanuel.

All right.

Sorry, I've been talking a lot lately.

Um my name is Katrina Eilers.

Um, and I live at 13462 Wright Street.

I'm a veteran advocate and people's advocate at this point.

I have been protesting for veterans' mental health rights for a year and a half, and in that time I have met countless veterans and other human beings who experience homelessness.

According to data from HUD, there are approximately 129 to 241 veterans experiencing homelessness in Nebraska, over 90 of them here in Omaha.

Based on 170 dollars a day on the low end, you're talking over 20 grand in prison instead of putting them in the VA or somewhere else they could go, but we don't have the resources for that.

Um and I understand that we do have more programs than civilians, and that's what makes this even worse that there's a single home homeless veteran in my state.

I also believe that these numbers are on the low side due to often relying on self-reporting or a single yearly head count.

I myself am an alcoholic.

And by the grace of my retirement and my benefits, I was able to receive treatment for my disease.

I honestly feel that if we treated our unhoused population like the humans that they are instead of criminalizing their tragedy, we can open mental health and substance use facilities.

We can beef up programs that help house and employ this population of Nebraskans.

I spoke with a former prison guard who said they were often left no choice but to cuff a person experienced mental illness to their bed for both their safety and the patients.

I honestly feel like both sides of this issue are all mad at the same people, and those are the ones holding the purse strings.

Our prisons are already overcrowded per the investigator general report published September 2024.

So, how will room be made and why can't that room be made in a different way?

We all have one thing in common, and that is that we are human beings.

I'm just one guy, and I don't know the solution, but it seems like you have a wealth of knowledge of professionals in this very room.

And if maybe we started having a conversation instead of yelling at each other, we could actually fix the problem and make a real difference in the world.

So please don't let them arrest my unhoused friends that I've met on my corner protesting that have kept me safe.

Thank you, and have a good day.

Thank you.

You as well.

Next speaker is Elise Emanuel, followed by Melissa Schumann.

Hi, Elisa Manual, 4809 Davenport Street, Omaha 68132.

I just want to say that I agree with what everyone here who spoke in opposition of this ordinance has already said.

Um I also want to add that the language regarding um possession of their personal property in this ordinance is it's vague.

Um when you think of animals, uh, a lot of people who can't go to shelter can't do so because they have um animals with them.

Uh is the city going to store the animals for 30 days according to the ordinance.

What happens there?

So just some questions I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Melissa Schumann, followed by Sarah Hughes.

Hello.

My name's Melissa Schumann.

Um, I had wrote something here.

Uh, however, after hearing everybody, I'm gonna do a little bit more of my lived experience.

Um I urge you to vote no one ordinance on ordinance 44395.

Most of you never faced the threat of losing your home, your job, or your safety net.

But thousands of Omaha residents live with that reality every day.

I have four kids.

Um, my old my youngest one, it's excuse me, is uh 20, and he still lives with me because he cannot afford to live by himself.

I can live off of $30,000 a year.

And the only reason I can do that is because I bought my house 15 years ago and it was affordable then.

You couldn't do that today.

My four kids can't survive on their own without some kind of resource out there.

They can't.

$30,000 a year is $1475 an hour.

I have a bachelor's degree in business management, yet I cannot use it anywhere.

I cannot find a place that will hire me for more than $15, $16 an hour.

Oh, McDonald's if I want to go for 18.

However, somebody else had mentioned that you have to make three times your amount of monthly income to be housed at $30,000 a year.

That's $2,400 a month.

That's $800 a month that you can afford, quote, for the what would be there three times.

There's no place in Omaha you can get for $800 a month for a family.

Period.

There's nowhere.

There's none.

And we need us, we need affordable housing.

We need affordable housing.

I cannot stress enough how much that is needed.

Criminalizing encampments doesn't solve homelessness, it hides it.

This ordinance would punish people for being poor instead of helping them get housing, health care and support they need.

The $300 fine and the possibility of jail, jail time won't help anyone find housing, but using tech sellers to renovate old buildings and hotels, could Omaha deserves leadership that addresses root causes, not laws, not laws that swept the problem out of this out of sight.

Please reject ordinance 44395 and choose solutions that show compassion and real vision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Sarah Hughes, followed by Liz Shuler.

Schooler, probably.

Don't get that right.

I'm Sarah Hughes.

I live at 9466 Bedford Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska, 68134.

I'm gonna start right to saying last Thursday, about 3 p.m., I got a call from my mom that was in her late grandmother in her late 70s that became homeless that day, and I was unable to find her shelter within uh 90 miles of Omaha.

So at the end of the day, when I got off work, I had to leave and leave her on the streets.

So she would have been arrested if this ordinance would pass for not have a fault of her own.

It was a fault of a family relationship ending.

Her daughter was on low-income housing.

She could not stay with her if she was staying with someone on low-income housing.

That could jeopardize her daughter and grandchildren's housing.

So she proceeded to sleep on a porch that night.

I did refer to street outreach.

I'm sure they'll meet with her this week, but we are actively working on getting her in shelter.

According to the 2024 point in time count, 2,720 Nebraskans were homeless on January 24th, uh, January 23rd, 2024.

And in Omaha, 2003 were unsheltered, living outside in the harsh winter.

That night, I was out there with many people in this room, like we do every last 10 days of January.

It was in the lower 30s, and outreach teams were all over Nebraska did the point time count.

Research consistently shows that criminal ending homelessness does not reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness.

Instead, it often makes the problem worse by pushing them further into poverty and instability.

We all agree that we want to end homelessness and we want uh Nebraskans to live safe and in affordable housing.

But arresting and convicting them and finding someone for being homeless is not gonna help that problem.

It's gonna make it worse.

As a member of the street outreach team for over 10 years, I've watched people barely survive sleeping outside, and some were casualty into the elements.

If not all, if not most but all want a home to sleep into.

They want they want to be in a house, but they have barriers beyond their control that leave them to sleep outside and most times unsafe situations.

Criminalizing sleeping outside will make it more difficult to get housing as a criminal background is a huge barrier to housing approvals and to get employment.

And criminalizing homelessness will not end homelessness, it'll prolong it and add to the long list of barriers.

These kind of laws traumatize unhoused individuals, they're dehumanitizing, and they have a negative impact on their mental and physical health.

These kind of laws are not effective and keeping our community safe, and they are actually more disruptive.

Criminalizing homelessness also increases recidivism, decreases trust in law enforcement, disrupts family stability, and otherwise in roads, necessary safety nets that help end and prevent homelessness.

Providing services is what is needed, and assessing accessible affordable housing has been proven to cost less than criminalizing homeless homelessness and is much more effective.

Once a person is out of corrections, they're still gonna be on the street, they're still gonna get fined and arrested again.

Is that the cycle we're gonna see that we're already seeing?

When will the cycle end?

If they have no income and cannot pay the fine, will they have a warrant for their arrest?

I think this is a lot of use, misuse of a lot of police time and taxpayers' money and not a good use of resources.

I would also divert Ma'am, your time is up.

Thank you for being here today.

Liz Schuler, schooler.

I don't know why.

Liz Schooler.

Liz, thanks for being here.

Teresa Moore is to follow.

That's okay, thank you.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Liz Schooler.

I live at 8207 Franklin Street in Omaha, Nebraska, 68114.

Just like Councilman Festerson, who represents me in District 1, I'm an Omaha native and proud central graduate.

Go Eagles.

I'm also a registered nurse, a professor of nursing, a mother, and a volunteer who has cared for people experiencing homelessness, both at the street or unsheltered level and in the shelters here in town.

So I've seen homelessness and some of the issues that have caused it for folks, and that being homeless itself causes for folks.

I'm also a mother who knows what it means to struggle.

I um was a team teen mother that bounced from place to place for over 18 months while my name was on the list for um HUD housing here in the Omaha area as I pursued my undergraduate nursing degree.

Um I took these two beautiful babies who I brought with me so they can learn a little bit about civic engagements from house to house of family members and friends while we were on that wait list.

That was 18 months, and then while we went through an appeal process to try to appeal us being rejected that housing due to my husband's uh misdemeanor criminal background.

We were able to secure that housing, and that is the only way I successfully made it through my undergraduate nursing degree and then went on to graduate school and to do what I do in the community today.

Excuse me.

Today, that wait list, if you ask folks working in the community, is greater than three years.

I don't know if we would have made it greater than three years without resorting to sleeping on the street, as the shelters are often full.

As I'm working with folks, both in the shelters and on the street level of homelessness.

I often hear some of the barriers to obtaining shelter that they face, even if they would prefer to be in the shelters we have in town.

Um, I hear things like they can't bring their service animals or pets, there's no beds, their family must be split up, uh, couples must be separated, or they feel unsafe in the crowded environments with other folks who are also enduring great struggles.

These are not excuses for not becoming sheltered, these are real barriers.

This is why ordinance 44395 concerns me so deeply.

Criminalizing homelessness does not solve the issue.

It makes survival and finding future housing harder and shifts the burden onto taxpayers without creating solutions.

We've talked already a lot about the price of incarcerating individuals today, and where that money may be better spent in order to solve the root cause of the problem and help folks find stable housing.

Meanwhile, Omaha faces a severe affordable housing crisis, as folks have talked about.

Uh, the federal definition of affordable housing is spending about 30% of your income on housing and utilities at minimum wage in Nebraska, now up to 1350 an hour.

Folks make about 2300 a month full-time gross.

That would mean they would need to be able to secure housing with utilities for $690, $700 a month at that wage.

There's nothing available.

I checked Zillow this morning.

Your time is up.

Thanks for being here today.

Teresa Moore is next, followed by A.T.

Miller.

City Council, thank you for listening to us and hearing us.

And all I ask is that you really do see us and that you really do hear us today.

Um, today I not only get to work in homeless services, I too was homeless at one point in time.

I remember going into a shelter, and I had my two boys, one on each hand and getting turned away from the shelter because there was no beds, there was no family rooms available.

To walk out of that shelter and have my boys crying and asking why they can't stay there.

You know, that just breaks your heart.

Today I get to work to try to fix that.

I get to work to house our homeless people.

Okay.

We still face barriers, okay?

People that go in into jail, you put them in jail, they end up losing, they take all of their belongings.

They come out of jail, the problem is still going to exist.

They've lost their ID, they've lost their birth certificates, their social security cards.

Okay.

We have to try to find, get all of that back.

And then we get to go and apply for housing.

We get turned away from housing because you have to make three times as much of the rent to pay for your housing.

I don't even make that, you know.

Um, I know a lot of us, nobody wants to wait, nobody wakes up and let's be homeless today.

Nobody chooses that.

We don't choose that.

It happens, you know, domestic violence, which was my situation.

You know, there's a lot of that around here in Omaha.

Our homeless people are people too.

Being housed is a basic human right.

Food is a basic human right.

They are people too.

Let's look at them, let's see them, have conversations with them.

Let's look for a hand up and not kick them when they're down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is A.T.

Miller.

And if I can ask when you come up to speak, make sure you stay in front of those microphones.

And I appreciate everybody listening attentively and doing a great job.

We got a few more speakers left, but thank you, everybody.

The floor is yours.

Thank you, Council members.

My name is A.

T.

Miller.

I live at 1117 South 10th Street here in Omaha.

I want to speak as uh from the uh perspective of a family member.

My mother's sister ended up homeless multiple times, uh, and mainly due to her mental illness, severe schizophrenia.

Her mental illness started because of severe postpartum depression after the birth of her fourth child.

And our family spent many years looking for her, and uh as did her children, um, because she would periodically go off her medication uh and wander away from care.

She had high, you know, highly we paid for um highly beneficial private care, but her mental illness led to her non-cooperation.

Umilarly, my brother, uh Stephen, currently receives care that costs over five figures every month.

He's severely disabled.

He hears and understands the rhetoric around this and feels very guilty that he is unable to work.

He was employed by Challenge Industries, which is like Goodwill Industries supported a work environment.

He was unable to do that.

Um he has severe scoliosis, he's deaf as well as schizophrenic.

Um he is daily in fear of becoming homeless despite the care that he receives.

Uh he hears about, he receives both Medicare and Medicaid, which is typical of many disabled people.

And when he hears about cuts to Medicaid, he becomes extremely anxious.

His anxiety, stress, exacerbates his illness.

And it is very difficult as a family member.

I visit him regularly.

I'm one of the only family members visiting.

He is uh over 60 years old, and people at that age who struggle with disabilities often have lost their parents, have lost family members.

And while I uh don't mind being the celebrated brother, uh it pains me greatly that the other people in where he lives have no one visiting them.

And so I end up being the brother to the 15 people who are housed where he lives.

He is very well cared for.

This is not a homeless shelter, but uh a supported living environment.

Um, but his fear um and the the on the edge of the many people who are there, just as a family member, I uh support all the people here that are looking for the kinds of solutions that surround people like my brother and make it possible that for them to have a stable life.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jeanette Taylor, followed by Natalie Nelson.

Is Jeanette Taylor still here?

Thank you.

The next speaker is Natalie Nelson, followed by Blanca May here.

That was close.

Hello, my name is Natalie Nelson, pronouns she her.

I live in the Cairn Western neighborhood at 4508 South 62nd Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska, 68117.

The City Council member who represents my district is Ron Hug.

I have a graduate.

Sorry.

You're doing great.

I want I just first want to say thank you to all the speakers who have shared their personal experience.

It's very touching and um honored to hear them.

I have a graduate degree in social work from UNO, and I'm currently a bilingual licensed independent mental health practitioner providing services in South Omaha.

Throughout my social work career, I have helped individuals and families apply for SNAP and other benefit programs, assisted community members experiencing domestic violence, and have volunteered or collaborated with agencies serving our homeless or food insecure neighbors.

Completing research throughout my undergrad and my career experiences have led me to share that I strongly oppose this proposed ordinance.

We don't need a criminalized, we don't need to criminalize unauthorized encampments in Omaha.

We need to find alternative solutions that allow access to affordable housing or alternative housing, much like what many of the constituents have shared today.

Online, together, um the organization shared that a monthly cost of incarceration is three thousand dollars per person.

Alternatively, providing housing and services costs 1,375 per month per person.

As a homeowner, a taxpayer, a social worker, a therapist, and a community member, I prefer that my taxes be used wisely to reflect my values in order to help not punish our unhoused neighbors.

Well, discussing physical responsibility is important, even more important is the dignity and respect our homeless neighbors deserve.

Again, they should not be punished when they are already experiencing hardship.

Many of us never or we may never experience.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Blanca is followed by Jorciro Yamana, Yamara.

Okay.

Blanca Mehia.

Um 48, 4410 and Cormila Drive, Bellevue, Nebraska.

You say that so much better than I do.

Thank you.

Don't worry about it.

Okay.

Have you ever seen this sign in our city?

Right?

What is the first thing that we think is he's a loser.

He doesn't want to work.

You know what?

Is one or more of those.

But you know what?

If we we know the story, if we we really know the story, we know what is going on.

Many of my partners here, people who work every single day.

We read emails.

We receive people in our offices every single day.

They are looking for life.

I mean, for housing.

I want you to make a favor for me.

Tonight, when you go home, check it out, everything around what you have.

Your family, a place, a warm place to live, right?

Call, heat, whatever you need it, is there.

But can you imagine as somebody who is who has a job and they lost everything for any reason?

They have a car accident, whatever, and they lost the opportunity.

I represent a nonprofit organization that we help people in re-entry.

People that they're going to be, that they have been incarcerated for any reason for many reasons.

I don't want to excuse nobody, but they is the situation.

They are incarcerated, right?

So when they're going to be released, sometimes they have fear to go out.

Guess what?

Because they don't want to have a housing.

They're going to have a place to live because they don't have very good credit.

They have the skills, but they don't have the rent.

Everything that you hear before.

But I want to let you know that it is not easy.

I know that we have a very beautiful, beautiful uh city, Omaha, right?

I don't want to see this place like a California other places.

But I know that we if we we work together, we can make a difference.

Last year we received funds, and it was very successful.

We have people that they were released from Yellow Prison, and we asked them, can you prove that you you want to work?

Can you prove that you are looking for a job?

And you know what?

I have a line in my office.

People that they say, can you help me with a deposit?

And can you help me at least with three weeks or transitional house?

The program was very successful because believe me, people want to have housing.

So please think about it.

It's very, very easy.

Just sign and say, I am in favor or I am against of this.

But before we make a decision, think before, because you know what?

This is story.

Ma'am, your time is up.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

The next speaker is Joacho Yamata, followed by Mary Reuters.

Hi, I am Joey Chiroyamada.

Uh I live on 3871 Farnham Street.

Honorable counselors.

Um, I agree with the proponents that encampments are a problem and that we'd all like to see less of it.

Um today, I offer solutions, not criminalization.

Now, the government is actually pretty good at subsidizing housing.

That is, as long as it's for specific purposes.

The two types of housing subsidies that we do well are jails and cars.

I'll talk about jails and uh and then parking costs in that order.

In Nebraska jails, uh it costs the government about 11,000 a month to keep one inmate, which is more than what I pay for in rent.

Uh of course, uh, if we include uh the resources spent on law enforcement, criminal trials, um it would be much, much more.

Instead, I propose uh leaving aside the overburdened uh police, courts, and public defenders, and use that money uh in more effective inhuman ways, uh humane ways.

Secondly, parking.

Although seemingly unrelated, parking, like homelessness is about occupying public space.

Now, the city builds massive structures and reserve public spaces for private vehicles.

But if a human is on the same public space, it is a crime.

The most common parking violation costs just $16.

Yeah, if a human is on that same spot, uh, the fine could be up to $300, time in prison and every earthly possession taken.

According to the 2026 city budget, the city will subsidize shelters for cars by $19 million for homeless services.

That number is $300,000, a mere 2% of the parking subsidy.

So the solution.

Second, subsidize uh human shelters more than car shelters.

Uh charge more on high demand parking spaces, garages, and fines.

Redirect the funds towards housing.

In closing, I want to be clear that I am not asking for any extra money uh from the budget.

We already subsidize housing for convicts and private vehicles.

At the end of the day, all I am asking for is to ask yourself this question.

Could there be another solution for this problem?

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Mary Reyers, followed by Summer Lewis.

Hello, my name is Mary Reuters.

I've had my address requirement waives.

I live in District 2.

Uh, please see the handout from the National Alliance to End Homelessness titled Criminalizing Homelessness where since the crisis research shows.

Um I deeply believe that the way we treat our most vulnerable community members says something about the soul, the very heart of our community itself.

This decision in front of us today is a test of what we're made of here in Omaha.

A real indication of the heart or that the lack thereof of our city leadership.

I came here today because Councilmember Brinker Harding was quoted in the local news as saying, I wanted to make sure that we're taking steps to make sure that the problem isn't a growing problem.

I'm trying to get a win-win for those in the situation and the general public.

Councilmember Harding.

The criminalization of homelessness is shown time and time again by research to be both counterproductive and inhumane.

Councilmember Harding, counterproductive and inhumane measures are not a win-win for Omaha.

Jamie Chang, a specialist on the sociological health uh effects and uh health effects of homeless and campus suites shared that there are harmful false narratives, that people are voluntarily homeless because they are refusing help, putting blame on individuals for systemic problems.

Councilmember Harding, harmful false narratives are not a win-win for Omaha.

A win-win for Omaha would be investing in housing first initiatives.

Um for every $1 invested in housing first, a $1.44 cent cost savings comes in.

So let's follow the research and not cruel trends.

Let's lead the way in Omaha rather than falling behind.

Morally, logically, and fiscally, housing first rather than criminalization would be a win-win for Omaha.

Councilmember Harding, we are in complete agreement in that sense.

When you said you want to make sure we're taking steps to make sure the problem isn't growing, when you said you want a win-win for all of us, it's just not with handcuffs, it's with housing.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Summer Lewis, followed by Sergio Toledo.

Good afternoon.

My name is Summer Lewis, and my address is 1411, North 104th Plaza.

I'm speaking today to voice my strong opposition to Omaha City Ordinance 44395.

This this measure was which seeks to ticket, fine, and arrest people experiencing homelessness for occupying public property with betting or tents is unnecessary, counterproductive, and fundamentally cruel.

People do not choose to be homeless.

The punitive approach of this ordinance rests on the baseless stereotype that individuals experiencing homelessness have made poor choices and therefore should be punished.

This ignores the reality that housing instability is often the result of limited choices and external catastrophic crises.

I know this from personal experience.

I am a person with lived experience of homelessness.

Both my parents have struggled with substance use and housing instability my entire life.

In the summer of 2022, at 27, I found myself homeless with only my car as my shelter.

I felt completely lost and had nowhere, no idea where to start.

And I used to believe that my parents, their struggles and failures were a matter of choice, and if they just tried harder.

I had judged them.

And it was only once I was in their shoes that I saw how naive and ignorant that was.

Homelessness isn't a moral failing.

It is a systemic failure.

It's not a choice when society seems to be fighting against you.

I had to let go of a lifetime of resentment and surrender to grace.

It is through that grace I found the power to change my direction.

My experience became my purpose.

I am able to advocate for others today because I had the autonomy to make the best decisions for myself, access to the right resources, and the ability to build a safe supportive environment.

I now live a full life dedicated to walking with others through their darkest moments.

My journey has led me to a network of local organizations and the dedicated, empathetic people within them.

We are all united by the same purpose, providing services and support to those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

We are committed to loving our neighbors.

We need your support.

People deserving of grace and opportunity.

Thank you for being here today.

Thank you so much.

Is Sergio here?

Next speaker is Alexis Schollberg.

Next speaker is Alexis Schallberg.

Okay, thank you.

Speaker after that is Yvonne Cabrera.

Followed by Lynn Mills.

Good afternoon, um, counsel.

My name is Yvonne Kaburu.

I am here in the capacity of representing the Women's Center for Advancement.

I am the community engagement coordinator there.

Our address is 3801 Harney Street, 68131.

Housing is a barrier to many of our clients leaving abusive relationships.

Nationwide, 38% of domestic violence survivors become homeless at some point in their lifetime.

More than 90% of homeless women have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse at some point in their lives.

In Omaha, it costs a Douglas County corrections facility 170 dollars a day to incarcerate someone.

Monthly, that is 51,000, sorry, 5100 a month, 61,200 a year.

When we think about homelessness, we think about the assumptions that come with it, which some people today who have testified have mentioned.

It includes people who are lazy, who uh have experienced drug use, uh, mental health um issues, but it also includes domestic violence survivors, includes veterans, and it also includes marginalized people.

Criminalizing homelessness is not an answer.

Many people with domestic violence, human trafficking, mental health issues will be swept up if this ordinant ordinance is passed.

And I ask you today to sub do not support this.

It's not what our community needs, it's not what society needs, and we should be looking at ways to fund the already existing resources in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Lynn Mills, followed by Rosalind Rao.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lynn Mills.

I live at 3509 California Street.

I'm here today to speak on my experience as a volunteer to as an outreach uh group.

We are a volunteer collective.

We started in 2020.

Uh there was an encampment that someone we knew in our group lived next to, and we got together.

We spoke about what our desires were to help and to try and provide basic human services, more meals, a shelter, blanket, basic human needs.

Um that was in 2020.

It was a fairly large encampment at the time.

We went in, uh, we spoke to people, we developed relationships.

There's trust that needs to be happening there's security that needs to happen.

People living on the streets, you've heard this today in testimonies.

People want security, they want safety, they want human dignity.

Um we started providing once a week hot meals and basic and basic needs.

Um medical supplies, basic over-the-counter supplies, basic tents, basic uh cooking supplies, and we never feared for our well-being.

These people, we communicated with people within that community.

Uh they communicated to us to which parts uh within 100 feet or so of tents that we should not go to.

We did send some a couple of people there just to check in.

Um, and our goal, and still our goal is today, is to provide a homemade meal.

We feed between 30 to 50 people in uh in a couple of hours.

It goes the food goes by very fast.

We provide um chairs to sit and to listen to people's stories.

People's stories about how they came to be homeless, what they're feeling like now, the trauma that they're going through.

People they need people to hear them.

We need our community to come together as one.

We have in our mayor's office help right now, and our mayor is proposing more help.

Let's see what we can do as a community to unite uh businesses, uh, housing uh homeowners.

Um, homeless people are attacked verbally, assaulted by businesses and neighbors just for trying to survive and sleep at night.

This is not the narrative that we want for Omaha.

This is not what we Omaha, as a community, we are.

We lend a helping hand to everyone.

Let's use our resources that we have today.

Your time is up.

Thank you for being here today.

Rosalyn Rao, followed by Luis Jimenez.

Hi, uh Roz Rao.

I live at uh 517 South 86th Street.

Um there's nothing I could say up here about the efficiency or efficacy of this ordinance that hasn't already been said by people with more facts than I have.

At this point, I simply want to mention I I believe in my heart that this ordinance was brought forward with good intentions.

And if we did not have a belief in the good faith of this committee, there would be no point in talking today.

So that that is why I'm here because I believe in your good faith.

But it has become obvious throughout the day how many people are speaking in opposition of this this ordinance, and even the people speaking in uh support of this ordinance, have been uh they just haven't been very doubts, they have not been very committed in their support.

So I wonder if this does go through, if you do vote for this, how can you truly say you support and represent your constituents with this giant turnout today?

If you do go ahead and vote for this ordinance, it is obviously unsupported by your constituents.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Luis Jimenez, followed by Elahe Pearson.

Luis Jimenez, 279 Dewey Avenue.

So uh I spoke with uh with uh Andy Bosch, and he said that uh this ordinance uh uh defines public spaces, and he's also said that uh the city already has definition for public spaces.

Uh public space.

So this is another definition, and so that that's the main reason why I oppose it because I think we can all agree that public space is for conducting our daily business.

So we want to be able to move through public space and then go home.

Um unfortunately for uh many fold of reasons.

Um people are homeless, and it does not give them the right to occupy public space.

Um so I think uh this ordinance is correct courageous.

Um I think that maybe a resolution to have the discussion could have also uh done the same thing.

Uh but uh I am biased because I live on 27th and Dewey and there's a lot of people moving through, going down to Hascom and going down 30th.

Um experience uh violence, threat of violence, and uh I don't want that on anybody else.

Um so while we want to have a solution uh for homelessness, we have to uh respect public space.

Okay.

And uh, but uh I don't think you you need another definition for for public space.

And so I uh I uh that's the main reason uh why I oppose it.

Um there is got three minutes.

Um yeah, that's I mean I'll just relate um one uh story is that I was hearing this noise at night.

This heaving and one time I heard it and I woke up, it's like this I I remember this noise, and I called the police, and it was a man uh going around this woman, and they're uh probably homeless.

Um so there's a lot of crime that isn't being reported, and while we want to be uh uh civil, there is criminality uh that isn't being reported, and we have to address that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ilahe Pearson, followed by Don Hooper.

That's Mike.

Hello.

My name is Eli Pearson.

I live at 12306 Farnham Street, 68154.

I'm a master's student at UNO, and I live pretty far out west out in Mr.

Harding's district.

And the fact of the matter is a lot of people will be punished by this ordinance.

People have been camping in public in Nebraska for 15,000 years.

It's a free country and it's public land.

I believe that you think it makes you look strong to punish people who refuse what you think is good help.

But punishing people who are stuck doesn't lead to anything but making the problem worse.

Giving someone a fine doesn't make them better at paying rent.

Giving someone a criminal record doesn't make them more likely to get a job.

I know some of you care about Jesus somewhat.

And although I believe church and state should be separate, I would urge you to consider what someone of your faith should do.

Should you spend thousands of tax dollars to keep someone in jail, or should you feed them and give them transportation so that they can maintain a job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Don Hooper, followed by Michael Fletcher.

Hello, my name is Don Hooper.

I live at 1830 Pasadena Avenue.

I'm a retired educator.

I work with my wife with a group of people called like-minded friends trying to save our democracy.

I'm also married to that pissed-off grandma right back there.

I would first uh give special thanks to all those who shared their stories and to the individuals and the organizations that work with the homeless and are helping them.

I'm in opposition to the ordinance that would criminalize homelessness.

Arrest and jail homeless.

Omaha, we are better than this.

A study and work needs to be done to find better alternatives than what we are presently planning to do.

We are talking about men, women, children, and even families that need help.

Twenty-five percent of the homeless suffer mentally.

And twenty-five of the percent are men and women who have served our country, our veterans deserve much better.

These individuals don't want to be homeless and living on the streets the way they are.

They need understanding, a helping hand, support, and love.

Warnings, fining, arresting, or jailing homeless is not the answer.

Just the opposite.

These individuals need a means.

These individuals don't have the means to pay a fine or get legal representation.

They will be put in a population of people none of us want to be with.

And they don't have a way of defending themselves or protecting themselves.

We don't have the facilities now to do this.

Our jails and prisons are overcrowded.

This is a very expensive venture for the city and for the state.

Instead, let's allocate funds and provide services and resources to help them to be able to help themselves.

Let's put Omaha on the map as an example of others to follow.

Show other ways and means to help the homeless get back on their feet and recover.

We need to get ahead of this because you and I know if we don't act now and act quickly, these numbers are only going to grow with the present administration is doing to America.

Many in America are just a paycheck away from being homeless.

Please do the right thing and help the homeless and don't arrest them.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Michael Fletcher, followed by Anthony Karifa Rogers Wright.

Michael Fletcher had a leave on this three hour.

Thank you.

Speaker after Anthony is Anna Preston.

Um, can I ask a quick question, Mr.

President, regarding giving our addresses before we commence?

Um, given the political climate of our country right now, some of us have been receiving threats from white supremacist terrorists.

So I'm wondering, given that my address is on the sheet, if I do not give it online.

Madam Clerk.

To do an address waiver, it had to be approved prior to the meeting.

Okay.

I'm just trying to prevent, because if any of them come to my house, like the cops are gonna have to come clean them up.

But anyway, Anthony Karifer Virgil's right.

310, Lincoln Boulevard, Omaha, Nebraska, 68131.

So, friends, we've heard enough data from my fellow comrades that point to why this ordinance is written as simply bad policy and written by someone who is clearly using this estimal body, which exists as a body to serve the people as a campaign advertisement to serve its own political self-interest.

But let's talk more about why this ordinance is written is so languorous and sophomoric.

First, it gives the option for houseless folk to be transported to a shelter when we know and have known that shelters throughout Douglas County are maxed out and bereft of the requisite capacity to assist the city's growing houseless population.

Councilmember Harding either knew this and is exercising willful ignorance regardless, or he is completely uninformed, which is disqualifying as a city count sitting council member, and certainly for anyone with aspirations for higher federal office.

Saying that someone has the option to be transported to shelters that don't have the capacity to help them is as feckless as designating a political ideology like anti-fascism as a domestic terrorist organization.

It is equally disingenuous to believe that you can rely on nonprofits to clean up your shortcomings as public servants when Mr.

Harding's political party in DC right now is in the process of McCarthy era witch hunts against numerous nonprofit organizations with the goal of stripping them of their C3 status.

Week after week, we watch this body handing out tax increment financing to capitalist developers like candy with no strings attached, no conditions for serving the greater good of the public interest in exchange for a flax tax flat tax rate for 10 to 15 years, which costs the people in our city revenue that could be used for social services that could actually assist houseless folk.

This was even pointed out by State Auditor Foley, who admonished the previous city council about its profligate misuse of tax increment financing.

You could make these developers build and dedicate portions of their developments to low and moderate income households in exchange for dodging taxes for a decade or more.

It's philosophing that this ordinance was introduced at a time when there is an empty brand new juvenile detention facility that sits empty and costs us $20,000 a month.

The message that Councilmember Harding has sent to the people of Omaha is that he would rather criminalize poverty than find ways to use that empty building as a short-term option to assist house folk.

Finally, given that the mayor has all but said that he would veto this bill if it passes passes, and I doubt you would get the requisite five votes to override his veto.

This is not a vote as much as it is a pronouncement of your morality.

Jewish people of conscience like myself refer to this time on our calendar as the days of awe when we seek atonement.

I hope that any of you who plan to vote for this all out adulteration of people-centered human rights have asked for atonement prior to your vote because you're gonna need it big time.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Anna Preston, followed by Paul Weizappel.

Is Miss Anna Preston here?

Next speaker is Paul Weizappel.

Followed by Gab Rima.

Hi, City Council.

It's good to see you guys, as usual.

Um is Paul Weisapple, address 6612 Lake Street, 68104.

Um I've dedicated my entire life to preventing overdose, and at the College of Public Health, it's I've been tasked with trying to figure out what's gonna cause overdoses and what's gonna stop overdoses.

And I'm just gonna share some stark facts with you real quick.

Those are unhoused or nine times more likely to die of overdoses just by being unhoused.

But once you incarcerate them, they're 129 times more likely to dive in overdose once they leave jail.

Anyone who's ever been incarcerated is 40 times more likely to dive in overdose than the regular general population.

And forced treatment actually causes a two times the overdose rate as the normal general population.

Nebraska spent $660 million on incarceration last year and only $228 million on housing individuals.

I've buried 96 friends, all of them who have experienced incarceration, and I've experienced incarceration.

I can tell you that it's one of the hardest parts to even escape in the first place.

Once you go in and you leave with your tiny little bag of stuff, trying to get out on your feet, trying to find a nonprofit that'll take take you in, trying to figure out which one of your families got your cell phone.

It's one of the hardest things to escape.

I'm not saying that this isn't something that we all think about.

I grew up on Lovemore Street and have seen the same guy with a shopping cart every day for 10 years and wish him to find his way out of it.

But without the stabilization of the nonprofits and the funding that we need to prevent this stuff, this is really going nowhere and making the issue worse.

I really appreciate you guys for your time and have a nice time.

Thanks, Paul.

Next speaker is Gab Rima, followed by Samantha Earlis.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Gab Rima.

I've had my address requirement waived, but I reside in District 4.

Uh everyone here agrees on one thing, which is that homelessness is a problem in Omaha.

What some of us disagree on is how we address that problem.

A survey put out by the nonpartisan organization pull a vote shows that 75% of all survey participants oppose this measure.

And even when you break that data down by party lines and by council district, there is no group that overwhelmingly supports this measure.

This proposed ordinance completely misses the mark when it comes to compassionate and sensible solutions.

According to a 2025 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which I've emailed to all of you, along with some other resources.

They state that there is no fault that there is a false narrative that he will choose voluntary homelessness.

Nationwide, there is a shortage of 200,000 year-round shelter beds for adults, and nearly 80% of communities have a bed shortage.

The cost of living in Omaha is going up, and with the recent passing of certain national legislation that would further restrict access to services like SNAP and Medicaid, we are looking at a potential increase in economic inequality in our city.

This proposed ordinance does nothing to address the root causes of homelessness.

It is nothing to address cost of living, a lack of affordable housing, mental health care needs, unemployment, substance abuse.

It contributes to the cycle of poverty.

I have worked in the customer service industry in the downtown area for the last six years.

Homeless residents of Omaha are my regular customers.

I speak with them every day.

Many of them have jobs which they won't be able to keep if they're asked to spend 30 days in jail.

Many of them tell me that they don't feel safe in shelters, and they actually feel safer sleeping on the sidewalk.

Many of them tell me about how they try to go to shelters and get turned away.

This tells me that we have bigger problems to address.

How can we make our shelters safer?

How can we make our spaces more welcoming?

How can we utilize compassionate tactics such as housing first to address this issue?

It's important to me that we treat homelessness as an issue without treating homeless people as an issue.

I ask that you vote no to this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please, no applause.

Thank you.

We've been doing great.

Thank you.

Samantha Urliss, followed by Gloria Becker Ryle.

Hi, my name is Sam Earlis.

Um, I live at 2211 Howard Street.

I am newly a resident of the Park East neighborhood since February of this year and a health care provider in Omaha and Bellevue since July of 2022.

I strongly oppose the proposal to penalize unauthorized encampments in Omaha.

Three years of residency in Bellevue and Omaha is a short period of time compared to many born and raised here.

But I can assure this council that the intimate experience of frequently serving our unhoused populations in the hospital and sharing neighborhoods with them qualifies my ability to testify the ordinance being discussed today.

As someone who enjoys frequently walking these downtown streets and passing my neighbors, applying an ordinance to a population that is in need of the city's help is a huge step in the wrong direction.

Like many people have proposed, with cases of homelessness rising, our city should be focusing on addressing the causes of homelessness through affordable housing initiatives and support services.

It is because of organizations like North Omaha Community Partnership and Metro Housing Collaborative that the residents of City View Apartments got the assistance they needed when they were ordered to vacate June of this year due to unsafe conditions of the building.

If you have not already, please put trust, respect, and real support into these organizations that have the pleasure of working closely with our neighbors who see their needs much clearer than the rest of us do.

Rehousing is one of the most stressful circumstances any person can experience, even for privileged folks like myself who have never had to truly fear living without appropriate shelter.

Let's imagine ourselves in between homes, finding community only amongst others living that same struggle, and being sent to jail under circumstances that already feel impossible to escape.

Every single one of us feels the change in climate, especially over the past few years, the scorching heat, the frigid cold, the countless thunderstorms.

That means we all know the relief, or hopefully we all know the relief of stepping into air conditioning on those hundred degree days, the comfort of a warm home during our bitter winters, and stepping into a building to escape the unrelenting rain.

Criminalizing homelessness would be a failure of this council and community, a failure of the privileged and the housed, a failure of we the people that have the abilities and influence to help others.

As stated in this ordinance, the intention to promote public environmental and economic health, safety, and general welfare is not accomplished through punishment and intimidation.

The threat of arrest and finding is not in the best interest of the city, its first responders, or anybody that calls themselves neighbor.

Jail is not appropriate housing.

Finding a person $300 that they would need towards affordable housing, if even available, is not supportive to anybody.

Please do not pass this ordinance that will undoubtedly exacerbate the pain, struggle, and fear that our unhoused neighbors already experience every single day.

And if the folks that are still here that shared their their stories that have lived through homelessness, thank you so much for sharing your stories.

Your time is up.

Thank you for being here today.

Gloria Becker Ryle, followed by Darien Talkington.

Gloria.

Gloria.

She's gone okay, thank you.

Darien Tolkiton.

Rachel Parker.

She's not here.

Jill Lynch Sosa.

Followed by Erica Musgrove.

Hello.

Thank you guys for hanging in there while we have all of us talking so much.

My name is Jill Lynch Sosa, and I'm the executive director for the Society of St.

Vincent de Paul.

That address is 1715 Izzard Street down here in North Omaha.

My personal address is 1481 Ellison Circle in Omaha 68116.

So a lot of things have already been said.

I'm not gonna go there.

Um I know part of the reason that Congressman Harding brought this forward is because you heard from lots of people that aren't here today.

I understand that.

Um, and they have some legitimate concerns.

Uh, they're concerns that many of us have as well.

Um people are worried about sanitation, about human waste in public areas, um, trash, and not being comfortable seeing people, encampments on the on the sidewalks, what have you.

Um, and those are all valid concerns.

Totally agree.

No community wants to see suffering in their streets.

We want to have that illusion of a beautiful, everybody's happy place.

I get that.

Um, but the truth is that these are symptoms, they're not causes.

Um, they're not the result of people choosing to be dirty or disruptive.

Uh, they're the results of people not having access to basic human needs.

Bathrooms.

We see it all the time.

They have no access to bathrooms, trash bins, they don't want that trash all around them either, but there's nowhere to put it.

And you know, as a person, you know, in my neighborhood, I don't want people to fill in up my trash bin uh with their trash.

So what do they do with it?

Um showers, they don't have access to showers unless they're in a shelter, and you've already heard of the reasons why people are not in shelters.

Um, and they just want a safe place to sleep.

So when we respond by criminalizing the act of homelessness or the person, however you want to call it, by ticketing, by arresting, by sweeping people from one place to another.

We don't solve the problem.

We're just pushing it around.

Um Los Angeles in Los Angeles, there's research from UCLA, Leskin's Institute on Inequity and Democracy from 2019 that found encampment sweeps, often destroyed tents, documents, and medications.

We already talked about that, but it did nothing to reduce homelessness.

Instead, it just scattered people into new neighborhoods, spreading the issues of sanitation, there are all these other things more widely spread out.

In Denver, the University of Denver study in 2019 showed that the city's campaign ban did not reduce unsheltered homelessness, instead, it displaced people into rev riverbeds, wooded areas where the sanitation and the outreach was much more than that.

Ma'am, your time is up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Erica Musgrove.

Followed by Carmel Sudo.

My name is Eric Muskrove.

I stay at uh Stevens Center, uh 2723 Q Street.

Um I um uh 29 years old.

I'm uh human sex trafficked survivor, and due to the cause of being homeless and the shelters being at full capacity.

I have for most of my pregnancy been homeless.

I am eight and a half months pregnant, and due to them not Omaha, Nebraska, not having the resources that they really need, how they're so quick to pass the judge for a liquor license, but throw a homeless man in jail and even in prison, just to survive is highly disgusting and inhumane.

And Omaha, Nebraska should be very ashamed of themselves.

I have had to go through very inhumane um circumstances living in shelters and have unforgivable acts done towards me due to homelessness and Nebraska not stepping up and perviding more uh safe, cleaner, nicer shelters, but they want to build multi-million dollar uh building.

They want to talk all this uh bad stuff on encampments, but they're not necessarily trying to help those people out either.

They're judgmental, very disrespectful, and that's all I gotta say.

Thank you.

Carmel Sudoth is the next speaker, followed by Ariel Nichols.

I don't know.

Okay, okay.

I can speak up loud if you need me to.

Hi, everybody.

Okay, legalize it.

This ain't about the remote world.

Hello, all can you hear me?

Okay, my name is Carmel Senneth, aka Mac.

That is my nickname.

Um I I just want to reiterate, I guess what other people said.

Um, I do believe backgrounds, you know, maybe with garbages and things like that.

I know it's unsightly it's unsightly to me, and I'm I'm on house.

Um kind of by choice.

But um, you know, I we're we we are your family members, you know.

I just want you to see us as human.

There, there's a lot of mental illness that I see.

I'm seeing things that I never thought that I would see since I've been here.

I'm from Iowa, and uh, and I've seen quite a quite a few things, but I do know those those of us that that are capable, you know.

I can see, you know, us finding our way thanks to the uh Tamara at the uh mayor's office and Lily and Jill from uh SVDP.

You know, I I'm able to, you know, my stuff got you know through.

But if I didn't have the mental, you know, capabilities to do that, you know.

What what about me?

And if you know, I feel like you know, to who much is given, much is required, and you guys are in that position.

So you know, okay, it could if if not for the grace of God, there go I, you know, just that fast.

It could be I've seen extremely intelligent individuals at this place that just you know, one bad decision or one bad choice of just not enough money.

You have has them outside.

You know, I you know, my address by the way is one one one living free lane.

That's how I feel about it, you know.

Because you know, I'm free, but I won't be free if you if you put me in jail.

That's that's not that tears me up inside.

That does cause a lot of anxiety, you know, to be criminalized.

Um just is campgrounds garbage, you know, for us also accountability, not criminality.

You know, once we get to, you know, you get uh there's too much land around us that we put our camps on.

Well, we you know there's some things we have to be accountable for and do some of the work, you know, make us make us meet with outreach people when they come if we do get to be put on a campground that within 30 days we have to meet with with the outreach workers, the street workers.

You know, some something.

I don't know.

I don't nobody has the answer.

I get that, but this this certainly this ain't that.

Putting us in jail are them fines.

Them fines will never get there.

You know, if I got a choice between rent and the fine, I'm gonna pay the rent, and I'm gonna keep that roof over my head.

Um thank you for your time.

It's probably almost over.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Ariel Nichols.

Okay, thank you.

Next speaker, Melissa Newvenfeld.

Neuenfeld.

Try that again.

Melissa Newenfeld.

Followed by Anetta Rodarte.

Good evening.

My name is Melissa Newenfeld.

Um my address is 540 North 77th Circle, Omaha, Nebraska.

Um, I'm a registered nurse and the chief operating officer for Heel, Omaha.

Um, I've been a nurse for 28 years, providing nursing care to my unsheltered neighbors for the last 10 years.

Um at Heel Omaha, we provide high quality health care directly to where our patients are dwelling.

Um we envision a community where health is maximized, dignity is honored, and homelessness is brief, rare, and non-recurring.

Um I wanted to talk a little bit about the way that our organization serves our unsheltered neighbors.

Um we uh we go, as I mentioned, to where our patients dwell.

We work in close alignment with the street outreach team.

Um we currently operate, um, I am the only paid employee of Heel Omaha, and we have 67 volunteers who are physicians, nurses um among our physician group are psychiatrists, um, and we have social workers, uh mental health therapists, um, a psychologist, um, and also um unlicensed uh professionals who also just come and carry heavy things and watch our backs.

Um we also uh work very closely with uh University of Nebraska, uh medical center students and also Creighton University medical students um as part of our team as well.

So we're 67 volunteers and me.

Uh and uh what we know uh what I know as a nurse is that being unsheltered uh is extremely unhealthy.

Um it is very hard on people's health.

Um being homeless in general increases your risk of mortality six times or three times, but being unsheltered increases your mortality risk three times.

So if we can re eliminate a barrier to shelter care and those barriers that have been mentioned by other people who testify today, we can uh cut a person's risk of mortality in half.

Um so uh we want so we can provide uh medications, we can advocate with shelter staff and help people to make human connections by going out and sitting with people.

Um again, uh our organization is not currently um at adequate capacity to meet the needs of people who are unsheltered in our community.

Um so that is an opportunity.

Um I think that um the uh alternative solution that's been proposed by Threshold um is very exciting to me.

Um I am looking forward to uh working with uh other leaders in the homeless service system to come up with innovative solutions, and I'm looking forward to bringing my ability to uh recruit and train volunteers to serve this population as a potential resource.

Um there's a lot of people in our community who want to help, and I think that we can um we can uh capitalize on that resource.

Um thank you for being here today.

Next speaker is Anetta Rodarte is Anetta here, speaker Andrew Allman Ted Potter is Ted Potter here.

Ted, come on down following Ted is Miss Ella Willis.

Okay, Ted Potter, 2963 and a half Pacific Street.

Yeah, everybody's pretty much said everything.

I will add, from the perspective of a person that's just working a job, maybe struggling a little bit, rents really high, and it sounds like you guys are saying if you lose your job, you go to jail.

Cool.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Ryan Nichols.

Ryan Nickel.

Tamara Dwyer, followed by JC Chelty.

Chatley.

Hello, Tamra Dwyer.

My address is 9308 Polk Street.

I also work in the City of Omaha Mayor's office.

I have a lot of information that I gathered up to talk to you all today about this proposed ordinance.

Sorry, can you hear me?

Okay.

A lot of people that were here today shared with you a lot of things that I have shared with many of you over the years that I've been here.

I know that you've heard these things before because I've showed you these things.

Statistics, studies, all of that.

I've worked here in the mayor's in the mayor's office as a homeless services coordinator for about three years now.

I've worked in homeless services for about 12 years.

I'm a board member of the Nebraska National Association of Social Workers.

I have lived experience in homelessness and housing instability.

You know, everyone wants solutions.

We want solutions.

You know, the people that are doing the work, we want solutions too.

We want solutions to not have to see our neighbors and friends on the street every single day.

But the ordinance doesn't solve that problem.

It you know, moves it out of sight, focuses on enforcement and removal, the risks criminalizing our neighbors for circ the circumstances of poverty rather than addressing causes that are more deep than just that.

We uh somebody talked about the 2025 point point in time count.

You know, overall we saw six percent reduction.

In our unsheltered numbers, we saw 14% reduction.

Um I think that that speaks to the work that has been done over the past few years with many service providers without additional resources.

It was a very hard, you know, to get to get to that point to see those reductions.

We haven't seen them in many years.

I think being able our passing an ordinance like this is uh very disrespectful to the people doing the work.

Um telling them, you know, that the the successes that they have seen doesn't really matter to you all.

Um we know that that the data shows that the system is working.

Somebody from Outreach already shared, you know, that street outreach was able to house 443 people directly from the streets into housing in 2024 alone.

We know that housing with services works for people.

We do it every single day.

And we have the data to prove it.

Um we need to also acknowledge the human costume.

Time is up, thanks, Tamara.

Thank you.

Thank you.

JC Chatley is JC here.

The next speaker after JC, if I got your name right.

Are you okay?

Alexander Liu is Alexander here, followed by Deborah McKnight.

Is Deborah here?

You're you're up in the bullpen.

One more, one more.

Yep, thanks.

Sorry, it's been long enough she fell asleep.

Okay, so hi, my name is Alexander Liu.

Uh I'm at 9505 South 27th Street in Bellevue.

And uh there's been a lot of negative focus on and rhetoric blaming mental health illnesses and uh addiction.

So uh I'm just curious, is this not targeting other kinds of disabled people too?

So, like I have a benign brain tumor that's damaging my optic nerve, and I'm just low vision right now, but uh I'll be fully blind eventually.

So, in your medical opinion, Councilman Harding, is that gonna count as a mental or physical disability?

Um, but the NIH states that nearly 50% of uh people experiencing homelessness have a disability, which is 2.5 times higher than the able population, and people aren't unhoused because they want to be, it's just because they don't have enough care support and social safety nets for you know that are reaching people that need it the most, and they're always gonna be people usually who are like me who are disabled because we like to target people, you know, who are going to be more marginalized and aren't receiving the social services that they need the most.

Now I'm fairly privileged in that I actually have housing, but a lot of us don't, and it's very unfortunate.

But this uh this enforcement will actually cost taxpayers annually $37,000 per enforcement per homeless person, which would be provide and which instead, if we are providing supportive housing, would only cost 12,000 per person annually.

Now, as a reminder, anybody can become disabled, which is meaning like if you just get like one illness or like one bad car accident or miss a couple paychecks, anybody can fall into that category.

And that means that uh um this you know, councilman Harding's uh congressional publicity stunt would then be enforced on you or on me or on the people that you love, which again would suck.

So I also wanted to mention um, and I think she left, but the uh person that mentioned that the shelter turned away somebody with a service dog that is blatantly illegal and that violates federal law in ADA and that killed a person uh because that dog would have been considered uh medical equipment, and again, very illegal, and it should not be happening because you cannot legally kill kick somebody out of a shelter because they have a wheelchair or a cane, so you should not be able to kick somebody out because they have a service dog that they need medically.

Um yeah, thank you very much.

And uh I have a bunch of sources, so if you guys would like that, uh I'd be interested in give that anybody who wants it.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Deborah McKnight, followed by Kyra Brittany.

Hi, my name is Deborah McKnight.

I've had my address waived in advance.

My work address is Urban Abbey, uh 1026 Jackson Street in the old market.

I'm the founding pastor at Urban Abbey, a United Methodist coffee shop bookstore church in the heart of the old market.

And I would urge you to vote against this ordinance.

I believe it doesn't reflect the best of the voices of experts or the deep needs of our community.

I have seen firsthand the growing struggle with our neighbors experiencing homelessness.

Urban Abbey will be 14 years old this November, and every year there are more and more folks, growing numbers of folks sleeping alongside nooks in buildings and spaces where they can find just a little bit of shelter.

And this is not camping, I don't think.

And if there is anyone at fault, if it is criminal at all, it is not the folks stuck in this situation.

It is us.

It is you and I and all of us responsible and allowing folks to be exposed so brutally to the elements not cared for by our community.

The crime is that we allow this to persist, that we have a staggering number of resources and opportunities at our disposal that we could deploy if we choose.

And I believe in us being able to do that.

The people that I know who are experiencing homelessness in the old market come from all kinds of walks of life.

Many of them work one, two, and even three jobs.

And all of them are people like you and I who have fallen on hard times.

And all of us are much closer to becoming someone experiencing homelessness than we are to becoming Warren Buffett.

We must act in a way that of compassion and care that brings affordable housing and service for the community around us for the betterment of our future.

I've also been the chair of the PTO at Liberty Elementary School, which is right across the street from uh the Omaha Children's Museum.

And it experiences firsthand the number of children who are sent out of their housing, have unstable housing, are sent away, who lived in the City View apartments and struggle.

And so this impacts people that we work with at the Abbey in so many different ways in so many different places.

And I just hope we can do something that is built out of compassion and love and justice.

Thank you.

Followed by Grace Sullivan.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Kira Britt.

I had my address waived.

I'm a lifelong resident of Omaha, and I strongly urge you to vote no on ordinance 44395.

Many arguments for this ord for this art ordinance stem from concerns about public safety.

Firstly, I ask you all to think critically about how many of these concerns are genuine safety issues, and how many are more reflective of wealthier people's discomfort with having to see and interact with unhoused folks.

I will recognize that some people may have valid safety concerns, but this ordinance will not do anything to improve public safety.

If someone is camping outdoors, camping, it probably means they don't feel safe or welcome at one of Omaha's shelters.

It also means they probably won't be able to afford paying a fine, which you already know.

Um Councilman Harding, sorry.

Um leaves incarceration as the only other option.

But without providing unhoused folks real supportive services and a path toward a more permanent solution, there's no reasonable expectation for them to stop sleeping outdoors once they're released from jail.

Um then we're back at the beginning, only this time our unhoused neighbor is more traumatized than before.

A much stronger solution to this issue is to address the root causes of homelessness in Omaha.

We need to be providing permanent supportive housing, affordable and easy to access, mental and physical health care, and other supportive services that prevent people from having to lose their homes and jobs in the first place.

According to Together Omaha, it costs the city about $3,000 to jail someone for one month, although an earlier speaker said 5,000, so maybe 3,000 is on the lower end.

Data collected in January of this year counted over 1,600 unhoused people living in Omaha.

Of course, this is um a big um undercount.

But if this ordinance passes, and let's say some 1,600 people are incarcerated for not being able to pay a fine, this would cost the city over 4.8 million dollars.

On the other hand, it would only cost Omaha about 1,400 a month, maybe to month um to provide housing and supportive services to our unhoused neighbors, which is less than half of the cost to jail them.

This ordinance wastes millions of dollars to harass and traumatize our unhoused neighbors while doing absolutely nothing to address the main causes of homelessness.

The City of Omaha's own human rights and relations board said the ordinance is um quote a short-term solution that will only make matters worse.

Wanting to criminalize unhoused folks like this is cruel and counterproductive, and it shows how deeply out of touch some of you are with reality.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Daniel Cook, followed by Grace Sullivan.

And then Clarice Dombeck.

Uh good afternoon, city counselor.

My name is Daniel Cook, and I've had my address waived.

Um today, like almost everyone else here, I just wanted to talk about this disgusting bill proposed by Councilman Harding.

When I heard about this bill, I was put in other shock.

Um, because why would anyone ever think of criminalizing homelessness after what we saw in DC?

This bill is vile, disgusting, and quite frankly, kind of evil, and it doesn't address the issue of homelessness in Omaha.

And a quote from the Flatwater Free Press in an article posted earlier this year, since 2013, the unsheltered homeless population grew faster in the Omaha Council Bluffs area than any other major metro in the country.

Meanwhile, it added some of the fewest housing options for people facing homelessness.

City officials said a shortage in places for people to go is one of the factors driving the increase of homelessness.

So why aren't we making new shelters?

Many of the homeless communities don't even want to go to our current ones either because uh it would separate them from their families, or some can't go because of their sexuality.

We do need to have more inclusive shelters that can hold people like that, and even some of their pets too.

On the C of Omaha's website, they have six shelters listed.

Kansas City, which is a bigger city, um, but they have 27 different shelters that include family shelters and LGBTQ shelters.

Des Moines uh also offers events support, family support, and rental uh assistance as well.

In the bill, it says that uh they will get offered a chance to go to a shelter before they get arrested, but what if they don't want to go to one?

That is their right to not go to.

And the definition of camp paraphernalia, you guys have betting materials.

Does this include blankets and sleeping bags as well?

Because it is getting colder at night.

And arresting people just because they're a little cold does not seem like a great idea.

In an article posted by WOWT, uh Mr.

Harding uh said, bottom line to make sure that people who are involved in those situations are getting the help they deserve.

How are they getting help by getting arrested and racking up fines?

Council members, I urge you to think about what all these people have said today and think about how we can do better, because this bill is not doing better.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Grace Sullivan, followed by Clarice Dombeck.

Okay, good evening, council members.

Uh my name's Grace Sullivan.

My address is 3705 Davenport Street, apartment 305, Omaha, Nebraska, 68131.

I'm a medical student at UNMC, so I spend my days studying, and during the weekends I spend my days volunteering with Heel Omaha, uh providing medical care to people living on the street.

And I have a focus on underserved health care.

Um so as a student doctor, uh I'm taught to be evidence-driven, and the evidence on this is quite clear that the criminalization of homelessness leads to worse health outcomes, it leads to wasted resources, and it destabilizes communities.

The Johns Hopkins judicial health note on the grants on the grants past v.

Johnson found strong evidence that displacement disrupts access to health care, medications, and outreach resources, which leads to worsening chronic illnesses and mental health.

People experiencing homelessness already face a threefold higher risk of mortality compared to the general population.

So citations and sweeps of encampments is only going to push people into more dangerous areas, and this is only going to cause an increase in disease.

So, as someone in healthcare, this is deeply concerning, and it's impossible to ignore that this ordinance will directly worsen the health care of these individuals.

It's all like ethics aside, it's just gonna be a waste of resources.

Uh, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that enforcement is enormously expensive.

If we want to look at historical cases, San Francisco spent 20.6 million dollars on criminalization only to find that it had no effect and it was too expensive to continue.

On the other hand, Denver's supportive housing initiative cost 12,000 per person per year, but that cost was offset by $7,000 due to reduction in jail, court, and hospital expenses.

So if the council wishes to be fiscally responsible, criminalization is not the correct path.

It also does nothing to address the root issue.

It only perpetuates the cycle of homelessness.

Um before I had no idea the extent of the barriers that are put in place for homeless people to even get the things that they need to get housed or get a job.

Imagine someone with a disability who can barely walk, it's the dead of winter, they can barely make it to the bus stop to get to the office, to get to their appointment, to get their social security card, to get housed.

So this ordinance is just gonna place another huge barrier on these people who are already struggling to get their footing.

It provides no foundation for success, it only pulls the rug out from underneath these individuals.

There were one study shows that legal debt actually prolongs homelessness by two years.

Council members, if there was a physician that was performing treatments or operations that were harmful and proven to be ineffective, time and time again, that physician would lose their medical license.

So I urge you all to reject this ordinance in the name of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Clarice Dombeck, followed by Anna Hernandez.

Good evening, City Council members.

My name is Clarice Dombeck.

I reside at 901 Farn Arm Street.

I'm here today representing the redress movement.

We're an organization that works in three municipal four municipalities across the country to redress racial segregation and housing.

And before I get to what I have prepared to say today, I just want to say, wow, wow, wow.

We have an incredible amount of work to do.

And just hearing everyone that came today, seeing all the organizations that sent representatives, those are the folks that can do this work.

And we can do it collectively to actually be able to address these issues.

And those are the folks that we need to be organizing and mobilizing so we can actually get this done.

So we encourage you to reject this misguided ordinance and focus our city resources on providing basic dignity to unhoused people through permanent supportive housing rather than wasting money on policing encampments and jail beds.

Everyone deserves a safe place to lay their head, regardless of race, zip code, or background.

But in Omaha, you need $20 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment and $24 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

There is an extreme shortage of affordable housing and available rental homes for lower income households.

I came last week and I spoke about that too.

And I also spoke about how that 40 million dollar housing bond will be a good opportunity to be able to fill that need.

So again, I think it's time that we use the resources that we have available now to start addressing these issues.

Just to provide you an example, African Americans only make up 7.5% of the three county areas served by threshold continuum of care, but 27.3% of the unhoused people at the 2024 point in time count.

This means that black people will be nearly four times more likely to face the harassment, fines, and incarceration proposed by this ordinance.

And I know that I'm running short on time, so I'm going to skip the rest of what I had to say because I know all the council members received uh this same information in an email.

So rather than wasting time and wasting money blaming and punishing individuals for structural economic problems, the city of Omaha should focus its resources on the most dignified and efficient solution to prevent homelessness, and that's permanent supportive housing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anna Hernandez is the next speaker, followed by Gwen Euster.

And then Connie Jones, and the last speaker after Connie Jones is Porter Moore.

Connie Matt.

Good evening, honorable city council people.

My name is Anna Hernandez.

My address is 1264 Augusta Avenue.

My office is down in South Omaha on the old city hall.

I come here tonight in the capacity as vice president of Sona, South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance.