New ordinances that fine or threaten jail time for people sleeping in public spaces have been on the rise since a controversial Supreme Court decision upheld them as legal earlier this year.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis takes a look at Paterson, where city leaders are considering rolling out that same rule.

We want to make it abundantly clear that camping in tents on public property is not warranted here in Paterson.

Mayor Andre Sayegh is in support of a new ordinance working through the Paterson City Council that would ban sleeping or setting up camps in public places and would penalize anyone who does.

He says homeless encampments are a major problem in his city.

It obstructs the sidewalk.

We've gotten a lot of complaints that kids can't get to school.

They got to walk over people they got to walk around the tent.

Our point is, let's address this now before it becomes a bigger issue.

And we feel like if we prohibit camping in tents on public property can help us get some control over the situation.

The city council voted 5 to 4 on the first reading of the ordinance last week that would issue up to $2,000 in fines and 90 day jail sentences for those found camping in public.

We didn't find anyone obstructing the sidewalk today.

We did see them in places like these open plazas, sometimes under bridge embankments.

This was crafted looking at other city ordinances, you know, since the Supreme Court decided a few months back that this was legal to do.

We keep getting inquiries from all of you, from the community about these tents popping up all over the city.

We don't have a mechanism to hold these people accountable.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Grants Pass versus Johnson case, allowing municipalities to penalize people for sleeping outdoors with fines, even jail time.

Since then, some 100 towns across the country have passed similar ordinances.

We're really, you know, trying to work with folks in the legislature and in government to to do everything we can to stand against that, because it really does make that work so much harder.

Rich Uniacke runs Bridges Outreach in Essex County that works to prevent and address homelessness.

He's opposed to these laws because, he says it creates long term ramifications that only worsen homelessness.

Finding and imprisoning a person for the experience of homelessness and for the biological imperative to sleep isn't right.

Right.

How does that make any sense?

To treat a person that way?

They've got new fines that they are ill equipped to pay, maybe new charges and a criminal record, which will be an additional barrier to their housing success.

And he says pushing them from their locations makes it harder for outreach programs like his to reach them.

And they often lose their ID in encampment sweeps.

But says says his city is poised to help.

And that's actually what they want to do.

If there are individuals that are camping in these tents on the public property that are struggling with drug addiction, we have a nationally recognized program, Real fix.

We want $1,000,000 challenge.

Michael Bloomberg gave the city of Paterson this money to help people get treatment.

And we've gotten 500 people to treatment.

And on top of that, we've got them housing 30% of people that participate in a real fix program.

They've gotten housing as a result.

I do understand the resources, but this is talking about arresting, fining, jailing.

Well, there has to be a penalty, right?

Because quite frankly, like, if there isn't, then there isn't teeth to this law.

But like I stated before, I've created a task force.

We're going to do the outreach.

We want to help these people.

So why not do the outreach now before it comes to arrest them.

We do need an ordinance, right?

So we have to prohibit that the tents.

Because if we go out and say, okay, well, here are these programs and if people are service resistant.

They're like, well, why would I want to take advantage of this program?

I can stay right here.

Plus, it's cold.

So for this to have teeth, they need to know there's a consequence if you don't get into the program.

That's how you see it.

They should know that we are here to help.

We're not here to hurt anybody.

But they can't.

They can't camp out on public property.

I think that we're approaching it in a way that is punitive and is criminalizing.

And that's something that's coming through a compassionate lens that we have to be able to address The real issue, which is not homelessness, but the lack of affordable homes in the city of Paterson.

That's an issue that will take more than a vote to fix.

For now, this ordinance is up for a final vote on January 21st.

In Paterson, I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.