Athens committee asks solicitor to review right-of-way rules after public testimony on homelessness

A committee of Athens city officials asked the solicitor’s office to draft options to clarify local rules on sitting, lying and storage in public rights of way after extended public comment and staff testimony about downtown street encampments and enforcement practices.

The move followed public comments from community members and outreach workers who said people experiencing homelessness regularly use sidewalks, greenways and alcoves to store belongings and sleep, and that current practice risks criminalizing poverty. City staff and the solicitor’s office described how the existing obstruction ordinance is enforced and sketched possible operational approaches, including a downtown 72-hour hold policy for stored property and a proposal for mobile storage lockers.

The issue matters because speakers described overlapping concerns about pedestrian and cyclist safety, the limits of police authority, and the use of local jails to hold people who lack stable housing. Committee members said they want clearer, written standards that staff can apply consistently and that can be reviewed by the commission at the next voting cycle.

Steve Williams, a member of the Athens Court Lock Group, told the committee that people experiencing homelessness “have their homelessness, their poverty is criminalized” and that many arrests he sees are for misdemeanors such as criminal trespass or, more recently, “pedestrian in the street.” Williams said those arrested sometimes remain jailed for “weeks and…