Summit, NJ officials face backlash over proposed law that could jail homeless people

Local officials in one of New Jersey’s wealthiest communities are facing backlash after introducing an ordinance that could impose hefty fines or potentially jail time on anyone sleeping in public. Critics say it would criminalize homeless people and trap them in a cycle of punishment that vulnerable people can’t escape.

Gothamist reported that Summit Councilmember Jamel Boyer, a Republican, introduced the ordinance last week. In response, two Democratic candidates for governor in New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, denounced the action. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy also spoke out against the practice of penalizing people for sleeping in public.

“I’m not wild about this, I have to tell you,” he said on WNYC’s “Ask Governor Murphy” on Wednesday.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican running to succeed Murphy in 2026, told Gothamist he is in favor of the sleeping ban.

Last year, Summit Mayor Elizabeth Fagan established a task force to help get homeless people back into housing. Now, several nonprofit organizations that are part of a task force said they may not be able to continue partnering with the Council if the measure is approved. Summit Councilmember Claire Toth, a Democrat, said she’s hoping to convince her fellow members not to support it.

The proposed law states that any person found camping, sleeping or storing belongings in public spaces could potentially be fined up to $2,000 or imprisoned for up to 90 days.

There is a small group of individuals who repeatedly refuse services, not because help isn’t available, but because they will not agree to the basic boundaries.

Summit Councilmember Jamel Boyer

Summit’s Council is slated to vote on the ordinance on April 22. If it's passed, Summit would join at least four other New Jersey municipalities that have passed public sleeping bans in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that upheld a similar law in the southwest Oregon city of Grants Pass.

But the stakes in Summit may be higher than in other Garden State municipalities. The city of about 22,000 was nationally recognized in February for its task force model to tackle homelessness.

Richard Uniacke, the CEO of Bridges Outreach, Inc., which works with the Council to get homeless people in Summit back into stable housing, said that as recently as two years ago his organization identified almost 60 homeless people in the community. Today, he said, that number is down to five. But Uniacke said his organization would reconsider its participation in the task force if the sleeping ban moves forward.

“I'm having a hard time seeing how there can be an honest effort continuing to be undertaken by a task force when the town has decided that, absent that task force's input, we are going to make it illegal for anyone to sleep outside,” he said.

In response to the criticism, Fagan told Gothamist that the Council intends to continue the homelessness task force's work. This week, she said, it helped another homeless person in Summit get into permanent housing, bringing the total to 21 people since June of last year. She added that the task force has helped an additional seven people avoid becoming homeless.

“That’s the real story of Summit, a city that leads with compassion and action,” she said in a written statement.

Boyer added the city is committed to helping homeless people who want help.

“But there is a small group of individuals who repeatedly refuse services, not because help isn’t available, but because they will not agree to the basic boundaries that come with it: no weapons, no drugs, a little structure. That refusal, combined with disruptive or unsafe behavior, has created real public safety concerns,” he told Gothamist in a written statement.

Blaming the person who's homeless is not the way.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy

Critics of Boyer’s proposal have focused on those very types of services as an alternative to criminalization.

“We can and must do better to support all of New Jersey’s residents,” Sherrill said.

“We must also ensure that there are adequate shelter spots and permanent housing available, as well as resources for mental health and substance abuse treatment, job training and individualized assistance to help families get back on a stable footing,” Sherrill added in a written statement.

Baraka, who has served as Newark's mayor since 2014, said that ordinances like the one being considered in Summit are “cruel.”

“It completely misses the mark, both morally and from a public policy standpoint. We cannot fine or jail people simply for being poor. That doesn’t solve the problem, it makes it worse. If someone is experiencing homelessness, the answer is not a jail cell, it’s support, services, and housing,” he said in a written statement.

Newark is one of a handful of New Jersey municipalities where local officials considered public sleeping bans in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, only to later abandon the proposals after public outcry.

Bramnick told Gothamist he supports ordinances like the one being decided on in Summit.

”I think this is pretty simple. I don't believe that people should sleep wherever they want,” he said, adding that he rejects arguments that such laws criminalize homeless people.

“ It's basically saying to people, you can't do anything you want when you want to do it. There's laws and there's rules, and there should be,” Bramnick said.

During his Wednesday night interview on WNYC, Murphy said it is “offensive” to think that a person experiencing homelessness would be in a position to pay a $2,000 fine.

“These folks need a holistic answer to their plight,” the governor said. “ Blaming the person who's homeless is not the way to start this process or conversation.”

Other Democrats running for governor, Steve Fulop and Sean Spiller, did not respond to a request to comment on Summit’s proposed ordinance. Republican candidates Jack Ciattarelli, Bill Spadea and Mario Kranjac also did not respond.

Toth spoke against the ordinance when it was introduced last week, and was the only councilmember to vote against its introduction. She said the majority of councilmembers still support the ordinance.

”So we have some convincing to do,” she said.