The Houston Police Department ramped up its enforcement of rules intended to keep homeless people off sidewalks after the city council expanded the so-called civility ordinance. The typical fine was about $200.
In the two months following the Houston City Council’s vote to expand the so-called civility ordinance, the Houston Police Department issued more than 500 tickets to homeless people — marking the highest two-month rate of citations since Mayor John Whitmire took office last year.
Houston Public Media analyzed 10 years of citation data from Houston’s municipal courts related to two city rules — the civility ordinance, which prohibits sitting, lying down or placing personal possessions on sidewalks in certain parts of the city during the day; and the sidewalk obstruction ordinance, which generally prohibits blocking sidewalks across the city at all hours. In mid-July, the city council expanded the civility ordinance to be in effect 24/7 in the downtown and East Downtown areas as part of Whitmire’s effort to address street homelessness.
The ramped-up enforcement comes as part of a multipronged, $70 million initiative to move homeless people off the streets and onto paths to permanent housing…