Taylor City Council approved an ordinance that regulates camping in public areas and establishes a policy for issuing trespass warnings on city property.
The Taylor City Council approved an ordinance Thursday night that regulates camping in public areas and establishes a policy for issuing trespass warnings on city property.City officials said the purpose of the ordinance is to"address a noticeable increase in encampments and loitering on public properties or within public facilities causing vandalism or destruction of public property.
"Many Taylor residents, including Drummond, voiced concerns about how the policy will affect the city's homeless population. "I have no issues with the criminal trespass warning. I think that's valid and we need that," he told the council Thursday."And as far as camping, I don't like seeing homeless people camping on the side of the road and in our parks ... but they have to be somewhere." "I mean, we've got an animal shelter down here. We spend $280,000 a year maintaining the animal shelter for homeless dogs and cats," Drummond said."And yet we let our brothers and sisters live out in the street.""My mother was homeless for a lot of years," she told KUT."So it was very frustrating for me ... very personal.""I understand the take that it's not criminalizing it [homelessness], but it can end that way. We're not giving them much opportunities," she said, noting that there are no shelters dedicated solely to the homeless in Williamson County. "So please take the time to research this. Reach out to the community. Let's work together on a solution," Cheatum said. Taylor's police chief, Henry Fluck, acknowledged the ordinance will likely impact the city's homeless population, but he said the policy itself does not criminalize homelessness. "The majority of the homeless in Taylor cause no problems at all. In fact, most of them are invisible," Fluck told council members."But there are the chronic homeless, who live the life they choose."They often resort to harassment, intimidation, aggressive panhandling —things such as this — that can certainly disturb Taylor families and children in their enjoyment and use of the public parks," Fluck said. The vote came on the same night the Williamson County Homeless Coalition conducted its 2023 Point-in-Time Homeless Count. Trained volunteers count and survey individuals who are staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing and unsheltered locations. The count is an annual U.S. Department of Housing and Development-mandated survey of people experiencing homelessness on a single night, according to the
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