Dothan camping ordinance could impact city’s homeless population

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - The Dothan City Commission recently voted yes to amending the city’s code of ordinances to prohibit camping.

“The difficult thing about this topic is that it is sensitive. You don’t want to be putting pressure on people who are homeless and poor. We don’t want to look like a city that is not compassionate or does not care about them. We do,” Mayor Mark Saliba said.

As defined in the section, camping is sleeping in a temporary shelter outdoors, pitching tents to sleep, storing personal items on public property, and cooking over an open fire outdoors.

This will mostly impact Dothan’s homeless population.

The city says the motivation behind this ordinance is to protect the health and safety of the public.

“We also care about our citizens who are nervous about going to the post office and having people approach them. Like most laws, it is for that smaller percentage that don’t want to follow the rules. We have to find that fine balance between being caring and compassionate, as well as protecting other citizens to feel safe while they are in the downtown area,” Saliba said.

People found violating the ordinance will be issued a warning and given the proper resources to help them.

Following the warning – they could face fines as high as $100 and 30 days in jail.

However, not everyone thinks this is a good idea.

Derrick Oliver with “Good News Ministry” has worked closely with the homeless and sees firsthand the struggle to find shelter.

“When you only have the option of camping out, it is not always a situation where it is a choice for everybody,” Oliver said.

Oliver said the ordinance does not address the root cause of camping.

“If the issue is ‘Okay, we don’t want them to sleep there,’ that’s fine, but where should they sleep? The city should get in behind that and say, ‘Okay, we are going to allocate these funds to this building and let the organizations that already deal and have case files with these people and have done the groundwork.’ Set that aside and give us the building and resources needed in order to deal with the problem. You can not create a second problem by enforcing this ordinance, because again, if I don’t have money to buy food how do I have the money to pay a fine?“ Oliver questioned.

Mayor Saliba says the fines are not right away.

“What we did is we wrote into it a little bit of grace. It is not immediate ‘I found someone who is doing it and then they get a fine.’ It’s almost like three strikes, you’re out. There is something for the officer that if they know them and say they have not been an issue before and they are compliant and move on, there is not going to be an arrest or fine,” Saliba said.

Oliver adds that everyone should lead with empathy when it comes to the topic of homelessness

This new addition to the Dothan Code of Ordinances will go into effect on January 1, 2025.

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