VIRGINIA BEACH — Since April, a team of city departments has cleared more than three dozen encampments where homeless people had set up makeshift shelters.
Inhabitants were notified in advance and offered emergency shelter, said Ruth Hill, the city’s homeless services administrator. The police department enforced trespassing violations, and five people were arrested.
The city’s response to encampments was implemented in the spring and gained steam after the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling , City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which held that local government laws with civil and criminal penalties for camping on public land do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment of homeless people.
“Prior to the Grants Pass decision, there was some concern about enforcement of anti-camping ordinances in the city of Virginia Beach,” Deputy City Attorney Dana Harmeyer said.
Police Chief Paul Neudigate, Harmeyer and Hill briefed City Council on Virginia Beach’s homelessness issues at a Tuesday meeting.