Stakeholder group offers service-first approach to Hampton camping and storage ordinance

Assistant City Manager Jason Mitchell presented a stakeholder-developed set of recommendations for a proposed camping and storage ordinance aimed at addressing problematic behavior in public right-of-way while avoiding criminalization of people experiencing homelessness. The report urged a "service-first" framing, persistent outreach, and coordination with outreach and court diversion programs before any enforcement action.

The stakeholder group recommended clarifying the ordinance's intent to "protect the community while never giving up on any of these individuals," prioritizing voluntary compliance and relocation to lawful areas when possible, and specifying an enforcement sequence: notification, offer of services, and coordination with outreach workers. The report proposes changing the penalty structure from the originally proposed misdemeanor 1 to misdemeanor 4 for a first violation and misdemeanor 2 for subsequent violations, noting misdemeanor 4 carries no potential jail time while misdemeanor 2 does but may allow access to public defenders and behavioral-health dockets.

Council members thanked the stakeholder group and raised implementation questions about whether a city policy could substitute for an ordinance and about training and referral capacity for enforcement officers. City staff said the city attorney has advised that an ordinance will likely be necessary for Hampton to obtain the needed enforcement authority; if council approves, the attorney's office will draft ordinance language to reflect the group's recommendations and staff aims to return to council for consideration as soon as March.

"We aim to lead with care and compassion, not punishment for any individual," Mitchell said, summarizing the stakeholder group's tone and recommendations.

Council members also pressed staff to ensure supportive services are broadly available (not limited to behavioral-health docket eligibility) and to put outreach language into the ordinance so that voluntary alternatives are codified ahead of any enforcement. Chief Weidman of the Hampton Police Department confirmed that training for officers on referral resources and the ordinance's intent would be part of any implementation plan.

Next steps: staff will have the city attorney draft ordinance language based on the recommendations and return to council; no final ordinance vote occurred at this meeting.