Story by: Olivia Williams
As a balancing act between decriminalizing homelessness and undergirding airport security at Hartsfield-Jackson, a new city ordinance has been proposed by city council.
In 2020, the airport morphed into a camping center for the unsheltered, exacerbated with the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the city’s homeless centers closed due to their inability to comport with new COVID regulations. With nowhere to go, many of Atlanta's house-less migrated to the airport seeking shelter.
According to authorities, unregulated entry into the airport exposes the building to serious security breaches. Under this new ordinance, the city would prohibit entry into the airport without an airline ticket, between the hours of 11pm and 4:30am. These are of course the hours in which homeless numbers surge in the airport.
What’s more, the ordinance highlights how the unsheltered should be treated when they are nabbed by authorities. For instance, according to the ordinance, when homeless persons are arrested at the airport or issued a citation, they will be ushered into "certain pre-trial intervention services." In essence, the ordinance is meant provide humane and sustainable closure to the problem.
Councilman Antonio Brown, says the bill has not been put up for vote yet, because the Transportation Committee is still fine-tuning the ordinance to accommodate “issues, resources and support services.”
To boot, the ordinance would also call for the creation of an APD Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement Team, who would be trained on policies and procedures that enhance fair and equal treatment of the homeless. They claim this will ensure that the unsheltered are not christened as criminals and accorded undignified treatment.