PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A new Portland city ordinance allowing the city to fine or jail homeless people who refuse to take the offer of a shelter bed takes effect Monday, weeks after the City Council adopted this camping ordinance and just days after the US Supreme Court upheld a case from Grants Pass.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that largely blocked a camping ban as unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping outside when there is not adequate shelter space.
While that decision has national implications, it is different from the Portland ordinance adopted by the City Council in May.
The ordinance — unanimously approved — includes new public camping regulations that Mayor Ted Wheeler said would clarify the definition of camping as well as the reasons for prohibiting camping when a person does not have or declines “reasonable alternative shelter.”
Read: Portland Camping Ordinance
Wheeler’s proposal also clarified how camping cannot take place on public property and reduces criminal sanctions while replacing warnings with diversion tactics.