The League City Council voted to update several city ordinances on Tuesday, tightening restrictions on public camping and panhandling across the city. The package, known as the "Healthy Spaces Initiative," passed unanimously as part of the council's consent agenda.
Mayor Nick Long said the changes respond to "numerous complaints" from residents about vagrancy and panhandling. He described a rise in camping in abandoned buildings, behind buildings and in wooded areas, where homeless camps have been set up, and said the rules also cover panhandling in medians. "It's a safety concern. It's just not going to be allowed," Long said.
Under the revised ordinances, anyone who wants to camp on private property must now have written permission. The rules also limit what is permitted in public spaces, including abandoned or unattended personal property.
Council member Tom Crews had objected in earlier meetings, arguing the measures unfairly target people experiencing homelessness. He proposed an exception that would let churches or private individuals host someone on their property for up to two days without written permission. "It simply allows people to do what they may feel is their Christian duty without fear that they are breaking the law," Crews said.
Crews also warned that a written-permission requirement could raise insurance or domicile questions. He said it could create practical problems if someone wanted to camp at a church overnight while the property was closed and no one was available to grant permission. "It's just not realistic. That's not the way things operate," he said at a May 12 council meeting. The ordinances were approved Tuesday without his suggestions, though he did not block passage.
Long said the best response to homelessness, which he said is often tied to mental illness or substance abuse, is to intervene. "Allowing somebody to sleep on the streets and stepping over them, which is what we had done in the past and what you're proposing that we continue to do in the future, was not the best way," he said.
According to Long, police officers will connect people in need with local agencies, nonprofits and mental health facilities while enforcing the law. One such facility is the Galveston County Mental Health Wellness Center, which opened in fall 2025. County officials say the Texas Legislature provided more than $17 million in operational funding for the center. "We've opened those beds, and we've hired mental health officers as well to address those issues as they come up," Long said.
Long said League City currently has between 15 and 30 people experiencing homelessness. Enforcement of the updated ordinances is expected to begin in a couple of weeks. City documents classify a violation of any part of the ordinances as a misdemeanor, and each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense.