On Wednesday Reno City Council members discussed ordinances that would prohibit sitting, sleeping, or camping in public spaces such as sidewalks, streets, alleys, sensitive areas, or within doorways.
After hours of public comment on Wednesday, and many questions from Council Members, all six ordinances passed.
Ordinance F.1 on Wednesday's agenda passed with a 5-1 vote, and ordinances F.2 through F.6 passed with a unanimous 6-0 vote.
Wednesday's meeting sparked a lot of controversy with some people agreeing with the ordinances and others saying they disagree because it will specifically target homeless people.
"It would make it a punishable offense to be sitting or standing or loitering in public property and we know that that is a way to criminalize homeless people, these ordinances would not be enforced across the board," said Tara Tran.
"You know they will be, the homeless will be disincentivized from being able to camp on public property because there will actually be enforcement in terms of punishment, so I won't have the constant threat of danger which I have dealt with, vandalism, break ins, harassment," said Coleman Smith.
These ordinances are largely focusing on the Downtown Reno Regional Center, as well as the property in the Truckee River Corridor.
People in violation of the ordinances may be asked to leave the area, or in some cases, people could be fined or given a misdemeanor.
Now that the ordinances have passed, Chief Nance with the Reno Police Department says they will not start enforcing them until some administrative work has been done with state, as well as more public education on the ordinances and education with the Reno Police Department staff.
She says this could take at least a month or longer to complete.
