Constitutional defects and response to Trump administration’s ‘militarization’ against the homeless among reasons cited for the recommendation
A city committee took steps Monday night to repeal an ordinance that Evanston has had in place for decades to combat aggressive panhandling.
The six-member Human Services Committee voted unanimously to recommend repealing the city’s panhandling ordinance in response to staff concerns that it might violate the U.S. Constitution. The issue next moves to the full council for deliberation and a final vote.
Kyle Voils, senior attorney for the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness | Credit: Bob Seidenberg
The issue came up after the city received two “demand letters” — the first a joint letter from the ACLU of Illinois and the Coalition to End Homelessness and the second from a pest control company that makes door-to-door sales. Both letters identified potential constitutional problems with the city’s existing ordinance, Liza Roberson-Young, the city’s chief legislative policy adviser, told committee members before the vote.
From the Article:
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Kyle Voils, senior attorney for the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, saluted the committee on the direction they were going, “protecting the individual rights and civil liberties of our vulnerable community members.
“Many such folks are subjected to unlawful government actions and invalid laws merely because they lack the resources — financial, time, informational, otherwise, to challenge those laws, and panhandling ordinances are a perfect example of this problem,” Voils said.
“Virtually every court that considered the issue over the last decade or more has held that panhandling ordinances such as Evanston’s are unconstitutional,” he said, “because they regulate the content of people’s speech, and regulate speech differently.”
Further, Voils said this is the right time for the city to take such action.
