Camping on public property in Riverside could lead to a ticket or arrest.

A new rule – approved Tuesday, Sept. 13, by the Riverside City Council – puts a blanket prohibition on camping, and storing personal items such as tent and tarps, on public property in Riverside, including streets, sidewalks and parks.

An earlier rule only applied to parks and said a city permit was required to camp. The council approved the ban 6-1, with John Burnard voting no.

City officials stressed that the rule would apply to everyone, not just the homeless who sometimes stay in the Santa Ana River bottom, Fairmount Park or elsewhere.

“This is not just about the homeless,” said Councilman Jim Perry, who proposed the rule. “This applies to all persons, regardless of their status.”

When asked after the meeting who would be camping on public land other than the homeless, Perry cited one example – Boy Scout troops who stay in Fairmount Park before helping with the Easter Sunrise Service on Mount Rubidoux.

Homeless advocates say some people have nowhere else to sleep because shelter beds and affordable housing are scarce in the region.

“There are people out there, they don’t want to be homeless. They want a place to go, but there is no place available,” said Jim Ward, a pastor with Journey church, which works with the city’s homeless.

Several councilmen and City Manager John Russo say the No. 1 type of complaint they get is about issues attributed to the homeless, such as panhandling, activities like bathing in public, and people camping and leaving messes on public and private property.

Resident Richard Naggar, a real estate broker, said that from his home near the river he hears people chopping wood and sees them starting fires and hanging up clothes. At the downtown library, people sleep alongside the building and use the property as a bathroom, he said.

“I recognize the humanity part of it, but we’re also running a business,” he said. “I want to see where these things are cleaned up and handled.”

A number of cities in California and the U.S. prohibit public camping, including Anaheim, Santa Monica and Denver, Colo. But some cities have faced protests and legal challenges that allege the bans are unconstitutional.

Riverside officials said the camping ban is one more tool to help ensure public spaces are safe, clean and accessible to the entire public rather than just a few. The rule is written to give discretion to police and code officers. There are no plans to aggressively enforce it, they said, adding that they won’t be rounding up homeless and pushing them out of town.

Councilman Mike Gardner said the city works hard to help people who are willing to accept services and shelter, but no one can’t be forced if they refuse.

He’s sensitive to the issue because one of his sons was on the streets for a couple of years, Gardner said, but “we have people in the city who have a right to not have people camped in their doorways, camping on the sidewalks in their neighborhoods … This is something that I hope will be used really pretty rarely.”

The rule doesn’t cover private property, but owners already can report trespassing to the city. As for whether people could camp on city land legally, city officials have said that separate rules allow people to get permits to camp in city parks, but no such provisions appear to exist.

The city parks website has information on renting picnic shelters and reserving community centers, but nothing about camping. Parks Director Adolfo Cruz said Monday that the department could issue camping permits but has not done so in his two years with the city.

“The only situations where we have had overnight (visitors) was with a (parks) department program,” Cruz said. “It’s not something we would encourage or even consider.”

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461, arobinson@scng.com, @arobinson_pe