BOISE -- The Boise City Council redefined the law on camping in public places Tuesday night.
This latest action comes just weeks after a group of homeless people filed a lawsuit against the city.
Attorneys say because the homeless often have no other place to sleep, they're unfairly ticketed by police for camping.
Critics say the city only tweaked its camping law because attorneys are now suing the city. A spokesman for the city says he can not comment on the lawsuit.
"They're not camping. They don't choose to be there. This is not a recreational activity. This is a necessary human function --sleeping," Howard Belodoff of Idaho Legal Aid said.
Belodoff, along with attorneys from Washington, D.C., is representing seven homeless people for free. His clients have received several camping and disorderly conduct tickets for sleeping in public. He says those citations will prevent them from qualifying for affordable housing. Belodoff is suing the city to get his clients' records expunged and wants them to be reimbursed for fines and costs for going to jail.
"This is a problem that doesn't need to be addressed in the criminal justice system. These people need a place to sleep. They need a safe place. They need a place to protect them from the weather," Belodoff said.
Belodoff said the city changed its camping law because of the lawsuit. Tuesday night, the city's definition of camping doubled in length. It added using public property as a place of residence between sunset and sunrise as illegal. And if anybody is caught setting up bedding, that's illegal too.
Jimmy Moore is homeless and is fighting a camping ticket.
"Let them sleep. People need to sleep. I mean, you can go down here to the park throw a blanket out with your family lay there and sleep. We throw a blanket out and lay down and we get a camping ticket," Moore said.
He spoke to the city council Tuesday night to try and persuade them to reject the revised camping definition. It didn't help as council members voted unanimously in favor of it.
“After tonight's vote are you disappointed?” asked NewsChannel 7.
“Oh, very. They just criminalized homelessness. It's a crime now," Moore responded.
"If they can't get in a shelter, they got to do it outside, under a bridge, under a tree," Belodoff said.
The city said it does enough to fight homelessness. It provides motel vouchers and gives money to homeless shelters to improve services. But attorneys say shelters are sometimes full or have rules that prevent the homeless from staying there.
The city is supposed to respond to the lawsuit this month.
