Council recommits homeless camping ordinance

Select Board · Meeting of September 22, 2026

WORCESTER — The Worcester City Council voted to send a proposed homeless encampment ordinance back to the city manager after more than two hours of public opposition to a $25-a-day fine. Councilor Gary Rosen's motion to recommit the item passed 8-1, with Councilor Moses Bergman opposed, Councilor Khrystian King abstaining and Councilor Kathleen Toomey recused. Health and Human Services Commissioner Seema Dixit told the council Worcester has identified roughly 300 encampment locations, fewer than 200 shelter beds and 150 to 200 people unsheltered on a given night.

"There was no input receipt from them," Dixit said of the fine, which was added after the city's homelessness steering committee meetings had ended. Separately, the council held action for a week on a $11 million tax-relief project at 274 Franklin Street after learning subcontractor OptiLine Enterprises, banned from city-subsidized work since 2025 for retaliation, had returned to the site.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of September 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.