CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Charlotte City Council members discussed Monday recriminalizing infractions that Uptown residents say pose a public health risk.

City leaders have the option to increase the penalty for drinking alcohol on public property, sleeping in parks and soliciting cash in the street or median. They may also enforce harsher penalties for public masturbation, urination and defecation. City ordinance prohibits the actions but does not allow for criminal charges. Law enforcement officers can only issue warnings or citations.

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Community advocates who work closely with the unhoused community said officials cannot “arrest their way out” of problems associated with homelessness.

Greg Jackson, founder of Heal Charlotte, said

“There needs to be more shelters; there needs to be more nonprofits that convert hotels like my organization is doing,” Jackson said. “That’s the way we’re going to clean up the street is by addressing this more holistically.”

City officials said they are continuing to put resources toward non-law enforcement-based strategies. During Monday’s meeting, they highlighted their decision to invest in the Public Housing Trust and offer millions of federal COVID relief dollars to housing nonprofits.

Some members, like District 3 representative Tiawana Brown, argue against changing policy without also updating city infrastructure.

“Nowhere in downtown Charlotte, I went around myself but didn’t broadcast it, can you use the restroom anywhere downtown,” Brown said.

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Councilman Ed Driggs voiced his support for the change, saying the solution to the problem requires a delicate balance.

“I don’t believe we are criminalizing poverty or homelessness; I believe we are criminalizing behaviors,” Driggs said.

A change in state law several years ago led to the decriminalization of the actions. In 2021, North Carolina lawmakers handed local leaders the power to treat the violations as either civil or criminal issues.

Charlotte police officials recommend city leaders recriminalize certain city ordinances. CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings wrote a memo to the council asking for them to make the change.

Jackson said he has worked closely with city council members and Jennings. He said he trusts their hearts are in the right place, but wants them to consider long-term implications of recriminalization.

“Does the solution begot more problems?” Jackson said. “Landlords look at arrest records and that can possibly stop you from getting permanent housing”

The Housing, Safety and Community Committee voted last month to push the issue along to the full council. Members recommend that elected officials recriminalize the behaviors.

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The council plans to vote on Feb. 12. Before they do, members will set aside time for public comment. Charlotte residents can sign up to speak online or call the city clerk at 704-336-2248.

The following ordinances are up for conversation:

• 15-3 Beer and wine consumption; possession of open container; disposal of containers

• 15-8 Trespassing on motor vehicles

• 15-82 Masturbation in public

• 15-83 Urination and defecation on certain property prohibited

• 15-136 Behavior (in city parks)

• 14-282 Soliciting from street or median strip

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