Add your name and/or organization to demand that the Mayor and Common Council of Summit withdraw Ordinance #11871.

This proposed ordinance would make it a crime to sleep or rest in public spaces—even for those with nowhere else to go. It would punish unhoused people with fines, jail time, or forced community service for acts of basic survival.

This is not justice. It is not compassion. And it is not the Summit we believe in.

The Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness has done powerful, community-centered work to connect people to care and housing. That work must be allowed to continue—not be undermined by laws that criminalize poverty.

Summit already has tools to address safety and public well-being. What our neighbors need is support—not punishment.

✊🏽 Join us in calling for real solutions rooted in dignity, not cruelty. Add your name now to the petition below as an individual and/or organization.

PETITION TEXT BELOW

Dear Mayor Fagan, President McTernan, President Pro Tem Hamlet, Council Member Kalmanson, Council Member Pawlowski, Council Member Boyer, Council Member Toth, and Council Member Smallwood;

We urge you to withdraw Ordinance #11871, which takes Summit away from the path of success, common sense law, and basic human compassion in response to homelessness.

We need to continue our path toward successfully housing our community members.

Ordinance #11871 criminalizes the basic human need to sleep and could result in arrests, fines, and imprisonment for people who have no alternative but to exist and store belongings in a public area.  

Summit has done good work engaging homeless service providers to develop care plans with unsheltered residents and secure housing. Do not abandon that work now.  Continue supporting  homeless service providers and their efforts to engage individuals without homes and to connect them to rapid rehousing and housing first programs.

The root cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. Focus on providing a fair share of affordable housing.

Ordinance #11871 does not solve the problem of criminal activity.  Enforcing existing law does.  Making it illegal to sleep does not solve the problem of threatening or violent behavior.

There are already laws and recourse to address unlawful, problematic behaviors. Summit should enforce these laws rather than punishing the act of sleeping.  Sleeping is not a dangerous crime.  Furthermore, it is nonsensical to fine unhoused people. How will they possibly pay for it?

Do not tarnish the Summit reputation for compassion and community-led solutions.

While it's easy to dismiss these people as 'strangers' or 'others,' many of them are Summit residents who have fallen on hard times. 

Central to every faith tradition is an emphasis on treating the most vulnerable among us with kindness, compassion and respect.  This proposed ordinance moves the Summit community further away from that universal value.  We implore you to withdraw this proposal and to continue the excellent work of the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness.  

We stand ready to continue our support of the Task Force in any way we can.

Your partners in community, common-sense solutions, and compassion,

Rabbi Avi Friedman, Congregation Ohr Shalom-SJCC

Amanda Block, GRACE

Reverend Vernon Williams, Fountain Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Robin Tanner and Dr. Tuli Patel, Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation 
 
Rev. Dr. Denison D. Harrield, Jr. , Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church

Rabbi Erin Glazer, Temple Sinai

The Rev. Blake Scalet, Saint John's Lutheran Church

Peter Jacob, Family Promise Union County

Christopher Cotter, Summit Helping Its People

Rev. Chuck Rush PhD; Rev. Julie Yarborough, Christ Church

Monsignor Robert S Meyer, St Teresa of Avila Catholic Church

Richard Uniacke, President, Bridges Outreach, Inc.

Janet Aulet Maulbeck, Executive Director, Interweave

Rev. Christopher Cole, Calvary Episcopal Church

Dan McGuire, CEO, The Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless

Charlene Walker, Executive Director, Faith In New Jersey