The U.S. Supreme Court has a major case that could reshape how Klamath Falls manages homelessness on their agenda for April.
Both the county and the City passed laws last year to combat the homeless and the case will decide whether people can be arrested or fined for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available.
Last year, The Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance banning all camping, sleeping, and resting in public places.
Camping rules were set out in an ordinance in KlamathFalls that passed on June 6th of last year.
However falling short of an outright ban on sleeping, camping, and resting on public lands as was described in the County version of the law, the City ordinance bans camping in residential areas, within 10 feet of a doorway to any building, and within 100 yards of a waterway and here is that ordinance Ordinance-23-02.
The annual “Point-In-Time” count of homelessness which took place which took place on or about Jan 24th counted a total of 107 individuals in Klamath County who either were living in shelters such as RVs or were observed or admitted to living without shelter, as in on the street.
In 2015 the count came in at 252 and in 2017 it was down to 192 according to the Healthy Klamath’s website.
