HELENA — Last July, a United States Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for states and cities to enforce laws and ordinances regarding the homeless and urban camping.
In this past session, the Montana legislature added new laws to give cities the authority to enforce homelessness-related laws.
"Until it becomes a bigger problem, we're just going to stick with the status quo," Helena Police Department (HPD) Cpt. Jayson Zander.
Two bills signed into law by the governor changed how municipalities could address the unsheltered.
House Bill 208 allows municipalities to prohibit sleeping or camping on city property.
House Bill 642 changes public nuisance laws to add "camping in violation of an ordinance or statute" as a public nuisance, which could result in a $500 fine for each day of the conduct.
A spokesperson for the City of Helena and Capt. Zander say they have not heard of any changes being made to city policy.
"Both the city and the police department feel like we're managing it fairly well," said Zander. "As you know, many cities in Montana are dealing with similar issues. We don't have large encampments; we don't have big messes."
Zander said a program that started less than a year ago has benefited the community.
In a partnership between HPD and Good Samaritan Ministries Our Place, folks can volunteer to clean up around town, which can go towards credits for fines from the court.
"We're not putting the hammer down on these folks just simply because they've come across hard times," Zander said.
He said they will continue to manage the unsheltered population as they always have.
"If they roll out a sleeping bag and sleep in the park overnight and pack themselves up in the morning, we're kind of letting that sort of thing happen," said Zander. "We are not allowing people to bring tents and set up encampments within the city limits."
