‘Poverty shouldn’t be a criminal offense’: outrage after California metropolis passes legislation focusing on homeless encampments | California

A northern California metropolis handed a legislation focusing on unhoused folks that can ban tenting on public property and make “allowing, aiding, [or] abetting” encampments unlawful – a provision that has triggered fear amongst non-profits and advocates.

The town council in Fremont, California, adopted the sweeping new ordinance – which has been described as one of many strictest within the state – on Tuesday with Fremont’s mayor arguing such motion was crucial to make sure residents’ well being and security within the Bay Space group of 226,000. Metropolis officers have been insistent that the legislation wouldn’t be used to focus on help staff, however declined to make clear that time within the ordinance itself.

The proposal, with its uncommon language about aiding and abetting, had attracted appreciable consideration and condemnation from civil rights teams and group organizations. Almost 20 such teams signed a letter urging the council to vote in opposition to it, describing it as “misguided” and warning it will create “authorized legal responsibility and devastating humanitarian penalties”.

“This sweeping language would successfully make it a criminal offense to be unsheltered within the Metropolis of Fremont,” the letter states, including that unhoused folks can not keep away from residing open air when there is no such thing as a entry to housing. “As such, there may be successfully no means for unsheltered people to adjust to the proposal.”

The ordinance in Fremont comes as cities throughout the US are cracking down on homeless encampments following the US supreme courtroom’s ruling final yr that cities can criminalize unhoused folks for sleeping outdoors – even when there are not any shelter areas accessible.

Dozens of US cities enacted harsher anti-camping insurance policies within the aftermath of that call. In California, which has the best price of unhoused folks residing outdoors within the nation, the governor issued an govt order calling for the removing of encampments on state property and inspiring native governments to undertake comparable insurance policies.

In Fremont, a 2024 rely discovered that 807 folks within the metropolis have been experiencing homelessness and 612 of them have been unsheltered – a lower from 2022. However the metropolis, like a lot of California, had seen a serious rise in homelessness in recent times with the inhabitants rising from 608 in 2019 to 1,026 simply three years later.

Fremont has simply over 100 shelter beds accessible.

Housing within the metropolis has not saved up with the rising variety of jobs, mentioned David Bonaccorsi, a member of the Fremont For Everybody group and a former metropolis councillor.

In December, the council started contemplating the proposal to ban tenting on public property and make “aiding and abetting” a misdemeanor with a penalty of as much as six months in jail and a $1,000 high quality. The ordinance additionally makes it unlawful to retailer private property in public areas.

Fremont had an extended historical past of working with non-profit and advocacy teams, Bonaccorsi mentioned, however that instantly modified when the council moved to think about the ordinance with out consulting with these organizations. Sister Elaine Sanchez with the Sisters of the Holy Household echoed that sentiment.

“That’s why it’s such a shock as a result of Fremont has already carried out a lot good with housing,” Sanchez mentioned. “It was an actual reversal after we learn this ordinance. Why did they not seek the advice of or name collectively a number of the stakeholders? As an alternative [they crafted] an ordinance that basically does criminalize folks which might be poor, folks which might be unhoused.”

The council moved forward with the ordinance regardless of the objections of group teams who feared they could be topic to fines or arrest for offering help and help to unhoused folks, and took a ultimate vote on the matter this week.

On Tuesday night, as many as 700 folks confirmed up on the Fremont metropolis council chambers, the place the road to enter snaked across the constructing and right into a car parking zone. Some carried indicators studying “don’t criminalize help staff” and “poverty shouldn’t be a criminal offense”.

Dozens of advocates and residents begged the council to not go the ordinance, arguing it was merciless and wouldn’t clear up the disaster and would as an alternative criminalize unhoused folks and those that assist them. It could pressure folks to go away encampments even when there may be nowhere for them to go, a number of audio system mentioned.

“What are we doing?” mentioned Thaddeus Sprinkles. “We’re taking part in musical chairs with folks’s lives. This isn’t an answer.”

And there aren’t sufficient companies to assist people who find themselves unhoused, mentioned Kimberly Sensible, who was homeless in Fremont for greater than a yr.

However many others advocated in favor of it with residents stating they not felt secure of their group and had discovered needles close to their houses and companies. Some reported encampments that butted up in opposition to their properties and posed a hazard and mentioned the state of affairs was negatively affecting the town and economic system.

“Compassion shouldn’t be about enabling,” one resident mentioned. “There needs to be accountability.”

The town lawyer mentioned the ordinance doesn’t make it unlawful to supply meals or help to unhoused folks. The council briefly thought of amending the proposal to explicitly state that the ordinance wouldn’t influence help staff however finally opted to not and the ordinance handed with only one councillor opposing it.

The town’s mayor, Raj Salwan, argued that regardless of criticism that the council lacked compassion, Fremont was a frontrunner in offering help to unhoused residents.

“It’s not honest for people to need to navigate their paths round these giant encampments,” he mentioned. “These encampments aren’t humane for the unhoused. We’ve carried out greater than some other metropolis.”

“We’re a frontrunner in homeless prevention,” he mentioned, however the metropolis “should stability accountability with compassion”.

Because the assembly got here to an finish at midnight, folks yelled “disgrace, disgrace, disgrace” on the council. JC Clark, a lifelong Fremont resident, continued shouting disgrace till she walked to her automotive.

“Poverty shouldn’t be a criminal offense. This ordinance says it’s,” she mentioned.