Following a court ruling that said sleeping is a human right, the Carpinteria City Council voted Monday to amend its anti-camping policy.

The amendments were made after two court cases ruled that the act of citing homeless people for violating camping regulations when those people had nowhere else to go constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“It essentially criminalized the act of being human or the act of sleeping,” attorney Sydne Rennie said when presenting amendments to the city’s camping regulations during the meeting.

Camping regulations mainly affect unhoused residents since they are most often sleeping in public spaces and parked cars, according to the city.

The ordinance states that homeless people can not be arrested for illegal camping if there is nowhere for them to go to, Rennie said. Essentially, people could not be cited for illegal camping if there isn’t a local shelter.

The penalty for violating the camping regulations is an infraction or misdemeanor, and alleged violators will receive a warning and a referral to services before receiving a citation, according to the city.

“So, overall, the goal of these amendments is to promote connecting homeless persons to services before criminalizing the act of sleeping when you’re homeless,” Rennie said.

Carpinteria does not have “accessible shelters” regularly open to the public.

“It can’t be a shelter that requires you to be of a certain religion or something like that, since it’s not accessible to everyone,” Rennie said.

Warming centers are opened during extreme weather events such as rain, but day to day, the closest homeless shelter is in Santa Barbara. 

There are exceptions to the policy: if there is a substantial danger to any person created by the camping, if there is an immediate threat or an unreasonable risk of harm to the public health or safety, and if there was a disruption to vital government services.

Santa Barbara County and the city of Santa Barbara have similar camping ordinances already in place, and did not need to make changes after the court ruling, officials told Noozhawk last year.

Staff also will be provided with an overnight camping notice that can be left on cars suspected of violating the regulations. The notice will inform the reader of the regulations but also tell them about the services available to homeless people in this area. Previously, staff would leave a copy of the regulations on the car.