The Jackson City Council postponed a vote on a controversial ordinance that would ban sleeping on city property and allow the removal of homeless peoples’ campsites.
Ward 7 City Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay, who originally introduced the ordinance, recommended delaying the vote “until a future date.”
Lindsay has been vocal in recent months about how the capital city is grappling with homelessness and looking for solutions to thwart the conditions leading to homelessness in Jackson.
She was one of several officials and stakeholders to speak about the issue in front of state lawmakers during a Capital City Revitalization Committee meeting at the Capitol Building on Oct. 30.
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There, she lamented Jackson’s “tremendous lack of affordable housing.”Â
“Literally, there are no places for a lot of these people to go,” the city councilwoman continued.Â
She also talked about St. Dominic Hospital’s closure of its behavioral health unit last year. Before closing, the psychiatric unit comprised 83 beds, Mississippi Today’s Kate Royals reported in June 2023.
On Tuesday, Lindsay said that the anti-camping ordinance needed more “conversation and study.” A similar ordinance in Grants Pass, Ore., which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a June 2024 ruling, inspired the Jackson proposal.
Several people attended the council meeting anticipating the vote including Rev. Martin Todd Allen. He did not get a chance to share his thoughts with the Council but said in an interview with the Mississippi Free Press that he believed the ordinance was “only going to create more problems.”
To fully address the issue, the City will need support and funding from the State of Mississippi, the reverend said.
“It is not Jackson’s responsibility alone,” he continued. “Just like (how) they funded the Capital Police with a big budget, they can fund social workers.”
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba did not speak to the specifics of the proposed ordinance on Tuesday but said his office continues to contemplate how to address each piece of the puzzle, including the development of non-congregate housing or homeless shelters.
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