Why Should Delaware Care?
Charging people with loitering has been controversial across Delaware in the years since the ACLU sued the state and the city of Wilmington for enforcing such laws unconstitutionally. Wilmington is now aiming to revise its loitering ordinance, but is facing backlash from advocates, who say the bill will perpetuate racial profiling and criminalize homelessness.
Two years after Wilmington agreed in a settlement to not enforce loitering and panhandling laws, the City Council is now drafting a new proposal that would restrict individuals from lingering on public sidewalks, among other places.
Supporters say the measure would stop individuals from disrupting business and hanging around homes.
But opponents have raised concerns, saying the proposal is vague and could create opportunities for law enforcement to profile residents.
“There’s no clear standard. It’s whatever the enforcer feels like that day,” Northeast city resident Mimi Ceeblus said during a City Council Public Safety committee last week.
The proposal comes about three years after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and the City of Wilmington over policing tactics used on homeless people. The two sides settled in 2024, with an agreement that barred local police from arresting individuals who had asked strangers for money or who had lingered in public areas.
Jennings promised not to enforce existing state and city loitering statutes until they were amended to address questions about their constitutionality.
In November, City Councilman Chris Johnson proposed the first version of a new loitering ordinance for Wilmington. He says it was not aimed at unhoused individuals, but instead sought to address concerns of homeowners and businesses about individuals obstructing sidewalks, lingering in front of private properties, and engaging in illegal activity.
Initially scheduled to be discussed during a Feb. 9 City Council meeting, Johnson removed the ordinance from consideration after the ACLU of Delaware sent him a letter calling the measure unconstitutional. In the letter, the organization’s interim legal director, Jason Beehler, asked Johnson to permanently withdraw the ordinance to “prevent the need for a federal lawsuit.”
ACLU staff attorney Jared Silberglied later told Spotlight Delaware that his team is “very concerned” about the ability of unhoused people to exercise rights.
And he said “all options remain on the table as we assess” the ongoing proposals.
For his part, Johnson has asserted that the ACLU’s letter wasn’t the only reason he pulled the legislation, saying he wants to have more conversations about the ordinance with his colleagues on the Council, police, and with residents.
He noted that he has already been in discussions with the Wilmington Police Department and with Mayor John Carney’s office, and plans to conduct public forums to discuss the legislation with residents.
Asked if Carney supported the bill, a spokeswoman from Carney’s office told Spotlight Delaware that Carney has not been directly involved in conversations about Johnson’s ordinance.
Over the past year, Carney has publicly stated that he plans to restrict homeless encampments to Christina Park in Wilmington’s Eastside. Carney’s spokeswoman Caroline Klinger said the mayor still plans to do so with a separate measure that will be proposed to the City Council or to another regulatory body.
Klinger did not provide a timeline for when Carney’s proposal would be introduced.
Johnson told Spotlight Delaware that he plans to re-introduce his loitering legislation later this year.
‘Not usual for law-abiding individuals’
Despite the plans to rework the ordinance, over a dozen residents voiced their opposition to the proposal during last week’s City Council meeting.
Many asserted the version would disproportionately impact the city’s unhoused population, people of color, and could negatively affect the city’s immigrant community.
“There are no edits that you can make to this bill to make it better,” said Shyanne Miller, a city resident and homelessness advocate. “Just drop the bill.”
The initial draft of Johnson’s loitering proposal would have barred people from obstructing the passage of others, deliberately walking slowly, or lingering within 50 feet of homes, schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, or vacant properties in residential or commercial areas.
When determining whether a person is loitering, the draft ordinance states that a police officer can also consider several factors that fall outside the scope of the general loitering definition. Those include a refusal to provide identification, an attempt to run away or hide, or the use of threatening or harassing conduct or language.
Police could also charge someone with loitering if the time of day was considered “not usual for law-abiding individuals under circumstances that warrant an immediate and reasonable alarm for the safety” of others.
The bill would have also imposed a $100 fine for a first loitering offense, increasing to $250 for a second offense, $450 for a third offense, and $500 for each additional violation after that.
Lena Grayson, owner of Lena’s and Ant’ Bumpy’s, a soul food restaurant that has sat on the corner of Shipley and 8th streets for the past five years, told Spotlight Delaware that she hasn’t had any bad experiences with people loitering outside of her business.
Grayson’s restaurant sits across the street from the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, which provides services to the city’s homeless community. The outside of the church is often frequented by unhoused residents.
Grayson said sometimes individuals will come in asking for food or money, and at times she will provide a meal before telling them to leave.
She says the city needs to provide more shelter for the homeless.
“They have nowhere else to go,” she said.
The Rev. Patrick Burke, pastor at the Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, characterized the loitering proposal as one that criminalizes homelessness. As it is currently written, he said it provides police with broad discretion on how to enforce the policy.
“Criminalizing standing on the sidewalk or on private property, waiting for services, criminalizing that behavior only makes their re-entry into all these different services harder,” Burke said.
In response to the criticism, Johnson said during the February meeting that his motive behind the proposal is public safety. He also noted that he and other council members have been “on the side of progressive justice” with respect to various reforms in the city.
He also said that for every 20 opponents of the ordinance, “there’s probably 200, 300 more that actually support this.”
“Understand that grandmother, that homeowner who owns their house, they have a right to enjoy their house,” he said.
Echoing the concerns of residents at the meeting were Councilman Coby Owens and City Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo.
Proposal comes amid statewide debate
Johnson’s loitering ordinance comes as the state of Delaware and other municipalities grapple with how to deal with loitering and solicitation.
The Dover City Council, for example, has divided into factions and is weighing threats of a legal challenge over a proposed ordinance that would prohibit people from stopping and standing on street medians. The city government is set to vote on the measure later this month.
At the state level, Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced last week that her office would draft its own amended state legislation for the Delaware General Assembly to curb loitering and panhandling.
But that proposed legislation has already caused tension, as some state lawmakers noted they were not unaware that she would be sending over a bill.
Mat Marshall, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, said the bill has not yet been filed and there is no timeline for when it might be discussed during this year’s legislative session.
He further stated that the DOJ’s proposal is not the only option available to lawmakers, “but if they want a constitutional loitering [bill], this is something they could use as a solution.”
Marshall noted that the AG’s office had been in discussion with Wilmington officials recently about the issue. He said Jennings’ bill had been sent to Wilmington’s city solicitor and to Claire DeMatteis, who served as chair for Carney’s Homelessness Task Force.
With regards to Johnson’s proposal, Marshall said the language in the ordinance has “deviated tremendously” from what Jennings has proposed. He said the AG’s office had not been in discussions with Johnson.