Duluth City Council Approves Controversial Ordinance Changes

The Duluth City Council voted to approve an amended version of the controversial ordinance changes aimed at camping on city property.

The ordinance changes have been a major topic of controversy over the month of July. Earlier this month, residents flooded into the City Council chambers to speak against the changes that originally would have made camping on city properties worthy of a misdemeanor.

Critics of the changes said they would essentially criminalize homelessness, while city officials reiterated that the camping bans would not be enforced if there was no available shelter space in the city.

At Monday’s council meeting, the ordinance package was amended to make camping on city property only worthy of a fine instead of a misdemeanor. According to a Northern News Now report, over 80 members of the public commented on the ordinances at the seven hour meeting. Those comments ranged from criticisms that the ordinances still target the unhoused population when shelters in the area are already overwhelmed, to support for the changes from people saying the encampment outside Duluth City Hall specifically is unsanitary and unsafe.

The encampment outside City Hall began as a protest, but has since grown to include members of the unhoused population pushing for systemic changes.

The ordinance changes were announced earlier this month, but after backlash from the community the vote on the changes was delayed until Monday. In the end, the City Council voted to move forward with the amended ordinances. The City Council also passed eight other ordinances that were on the agenda at Monday’s meeting.