CAMDEN, SC (WIS) – In the city of Camden, you can no longer live, sleep or shelter on public property, according to a council that unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday.

The ordinance describes it as “camping,” which means using public property to sleep, prepare food, arrange shelter and/or store personal belongings. If you violate one of these things, you may receive a violation warning, and if you return or continue to do so, you may be arrested.

Camden City Manager Matt Dewitt described the ordinance as “an opportunity to help those in need in the community.”

He said the ordinance was modeled after similar ones in both Columbia and Charleston.

Camden is not the only municipality in the Midlands to pass such an ordinance recently. The city of Newberry recently passed a similar ordinance.

Despite what Dewitt described as “the feeling around town,” he said, “We’re not trying to ban homelessness.”

New Sen. Jeffrey Graham, D-Camden, spoke to WIS News about the city’s camping ordinance.

“Yes, I can get a warning. Yes, I can give them notice,” Graham said. “Yes, they can be fined, but the reality is we have to connect them with the services that are out there because we have a community that cares, it’s more our individual churches or nonprofits, but this allows this conversation to to take place and also hold a number.”

Dewitt said this ordinance allows officers to show compassion by first issuing a warning if someone is sheltering or sleeping on public property, and then officers can provide guidance on where people can go for help.

He said there are a lot of resources the city supports financially — like the United Way and Food for the Soul. Dewitt said many of the homeless suffer from mental health issues, so compassionate enforcement will come first.

“This is the best way for nonprofits and city police officers to work together toward a common goal, helping the unsheltered in the community,” Graham said.

But some WIS News 10 spoke with disagreed with the ordinance, including one of the resources Dewitt mentioned, the United Way.

Angie Shirley, United Way’s homeless street coordinator in Camden, said it was a “slap in the face” for all their work.

She said the city will quickly realize how full its current homeless shelters and transitional housing programs are.

“I will not stand, I will go to jail for them, I will do whatever it takes to change this, but this is not the answer and we have to come together and find a better solution because this is not the answer.” Shirley said.

Donny Supplee, president of the United Way of Camden, tells WIS they have a great relationship with the city and police department, but he disagrees with the ordinance.

He described it as a “bump in the way” for the city. He said he was confident they would make it work despite the current divide.

“This is not fair to our community members who live outside, they say this will allow them to take them to their resources and they will find out very quickly and they already know there are no resources for them,” Shirley said.

Dewitt told WIS the city doesn’t want to arrest anyone and that’s not the purpose of the ordinance.

Starting now, he said city officials will meet with police officers to train them on how to talk to people who are breaking the code so they can get them help before anything else.

“This is the beginning of a new conversation, where our officers and our nonprofits can have a real dialogue with the people we’re trying to serve together, until now we didn’t have a way to keep up and coordinate,” said Graham.

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