The city's patience with a tent city of homeless people is understandable, but it cannot not be inexhaustible.

If the purpose of tent city, the makeshift shelter for eight homeless people in the backyard of the Catholic Worker House in Champaign, was to draw attention to a legitimate social problem, fine. Point taken.

But if some people have an idea that it ought to be a semi-permanent part of the backyard landscape of 317 S. Randolph St., C, that's another matter. The erection of the tents violates city zoning laws and represents a legitimate nuisance concern to the neighbors. Sooner or later, one way or another, they will come down.

City officials say they won't press the matter hard for the time being. They are trying, to their credit, to work this zoning violation out in an agreeable manner.

But the fact that the tent city was allowed to go up in the first place by the operators of the Catholic Worker House is a disappointment. Though staffed with volunteers, it operates best when it has the strong support of the community, including elected and appointed city officials.

The Catholic Worker House has, at best, its hands full most of the time. Its budget is not unlimited. It provides food and shelter to a needy population of dislocated adults and children. Its clients, as demonstrated by the recent controversy over ending Sunday lunches to homeless men, have their differences.

House managers ended the lunches so that women and children who don't get along all that well together with the men could have a day of peace and quiet. That decision produced a split between some volunteers and those who made the decision to end the Sunday lunch for men.

So, obviously, these are not the best of times for the Catholic Worker House. Indeed, there may never be a best time, just tough and even-tougher times.

So it was hardly an ideal moment for the institution to pick a fight with the city over a blatant ordinance violation.

Perhaps the tent city really is, as City Council Member Tom Bruno suggests, "a political statement." But homelessness is not a new social problem, and Champaign and Urbana have hardly been unsympathetic in trying to help those who need assistance, particularly in the winter. Shelter, some provided by volunteer and taxpayer-funded organizations, is available.

But the city has an obligation to do more than just help the needy, in this case homeless people. It also has a duty to enforce its ordinance banning outdoor living in a manner that is fair to all the residents of the city. The vast majority of city residents aren't affected one way or the other by tent city. But neighbors of tent city stated their concerns about what a nuisance it represents to them, and their concerns not only are legitimate, but are on the right side of the law.

If the city is going to start picking and choosing what laws it will enforce, it won't be long until there is a lot bigger problem here than that posed by a few tents.

Frankly, that reality trumps whatever point advocates for the homeless think they're making with this display.

Managers and volunteers at the Catholic Worker House ought to think about that before they let this display go on too much longer.

Most people respect the time and effort the Catholic Worker House puts forth. It represents the best of human nature. It would be a shame to spoil that image by continuing to flout city ordinances and neighbors' sensibilities with this ill-advised display.