Des Moines council adopts camping ordinance and a 13-part homelessness package; critics say it criminalizes homelessness

The Des Moines City Council on Sept. 16 adopted a package of measures aimed at addressing unsheltered homelessness while voting to amend city code to prohibit certain camping and sleeping activities in public.

A motion combining most items in the council’s homelessness plan passed 5–2. The package includes expanded outreach (four outreach workers total, three new positions), hiring a hearing officer to expedite administrative processes, steps to reduce barriers to emergency shelter use, storage for people’s belongings, transportation options from encampments, pilot public restrooms in downtown locations and an explicit commitment to shelter animals when people bring pets. The council also directed the city manager to reallocate funding for a proposed housing problem-solving (diversion) fund; a speaker at the meeting said the initial pilot amount under discussion was…