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Honolulu’s homeless are now on notice. They’re not going to be able to stay on the sidewalks for long.

After months of debate, the Honolulu City Council Wednesday took another big step toward clearing the city’s public spaces. By an 8-1 vote, it approved a controversial bill giving the city the power to confiscate personal items kept or left on sidewalks or in parks for more than 24 hours.

The new law, expected to be signed by Mayor Peter Carlisle, also means trouble for the Occupy Honolulu protest encampment across the street from the city’s major art museum. The group has avoided eviction until now, but it might now be a matter of time until the city seeks to take back the sidewalk.

After the vote, protesters employed the “human mic” to chant their displeasure with the decision.

Critics of the proposal said it does little to solve the homeless problem, which they say needs systemic solutions. Proponents agreed with that charge, and what’s more, they said it’s intentional.

(Read Inside Honolulu for a blow-by-blow account of the meeting.)

The proponents, particularly bill author Tulsi Gabbard, couched the debate as a matter of preserving and protecting public access to public areas, not a way to solve homelessness. They said it’s unfair for a select group of people — whether the homeless, protesters or anybody else — to monopolize any public space by storing their stuff in one spot.

Opponents, meanwhile, accused the Council of not having a heart. One homeless man, David Cannell, said in testimony that the measure amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” and is essentially “thievery from the poorest of the poor.”

The lone “no” vote came from Romy Cachola, who throughout the process had raised questions about how much it will cost to post notice, take the belongings, store them and dispose of them.

“The way I look at it, it’s just a waste of money,” he said Wednesday.

Nestor Garcia had been the most vocal opponent on the Council throughout deliberations, but changed his tune Wednesday. He said he still wasn’t convinced it was a good idea, but not to support it would mean doing nothing. So he thought it would be better to give the administration the chance to try to implement the policy.

Garcia said he knew he didn’t have the votes to stop it, so instead will hold the administration’s feet to the fire and make sure the law is used the way it’s intended.

Garcia said he had a last-minute change of heart after a conversation with state homeless czar Marc Alexander Tuesday.

Alexander was also in Council Chambers Wednesday to defend the state government’s handling of the homeless issue and to promise that the state and city will work together to solve the problem.

He advocated for the proposal because it amounts to a tough-love strategy that will encourage homeless to accept beds in temporary shelters. The goal from that point is to get them help, be it psychiatric services or dependency counseling or just some money for first month’s rent. The last step in the strategy is to set up the formerly homeless individual with a place to live — “four walls, a roof and a door that locks.”