July 15, 2004

To new Mayor Hugh Hallman,

Welcome to your position at the head of Tempe. We are ASU students and alumni that are encouraging you to carry out plans that will help to make Tempe a friendlier, humane place. 

We are writing to urge you to work for the repeal of the Urban Camping Ordinance in Tempe. As a group, we feel that this ordinance is inhumane, and that it has proven to be of little utility in helping either the homeless themselves or the in the alleviation of the issues that the homeless present to the city or community. 

The solution to the problems of homelessness is to create an environment in which the homeless are encouraged to and given the resources to escape their situation. We have not talked to homeless people that are motivated to change their situation by laws such as this Ordinance. In fact, implementation of the ordinance can make more difficult honest efforts to escape homelessness, by adding unnecessary criminal records and fines. Last year, 23 people were arrested for urban camping, leading to unnecessary public expense and unnecessary stress for the homeless. While we feel that this number in itself is high enough to cause worry, we know that the law is irregularly applied so that the real effect is a climate of fear of enforcement and disempowerment. 

There does not seem to be any utility to the law aside from marginalizing the homeless population. As marginalization has created homelessness in many circumstances, it will not be the solution to homelessness. We would like to urge you to stop adding to the stigma this population faces. The goal should be to solve problems in a way that is mutually beneficial to all groups involved. 

It seems wrong that the homeless have few resources to draw from in the City of Tempe, and yet their lives and basic behaviors are subject to criminalization. 

During the Mayoral Election debates last winter, both candidates, Dennis Cahill and yourself, promised that they would build a homeless shelter in Tempe. We encourage this idea so long as such a facility is placed strategically: in an area where the homeless are actually able to access it. However, while a shelter would be helpful, it would also be helpful to alleviate other stresses on the population and to create other resources. A repeal of the Urban Camping Ordinance would be one such step. 

Please repeal the Urban Camping Ordinance.

Sincerely,

Kate Elliott, Elizabeth Venable, and other members of the Free to Camp Coalition

cc: Hugh Hallman, Barb Carter, Mark Mitchell, Ben Arredondo, Len Copple, Pam Goronkin, Hut Hutson, Theresa James