The ordinance in Fremont comes as cities across the US are cracking down on homeless encampments following the US supreme court’s ruling last year that cities can criminalize unhoused people for sleeping outside – even when there are no shelter spaces available.
The city council in Fremont, California, adopted the sweeping new ordinance – which has been described as one of the strictest in the state – on Tuesday with Fremont’s mayor arguing such action was necessary to ensure residents’ health and safety in the Bay Area community of 226,000.
A northern California city passed a law targeting unhoused people that will ban camping on public property and make “permitting, aiding, [or] abetting” encampments illegal – a provision that has caused worry among non-profits and advocates.
“This sweeping language would effectively make it a crime to be unsheltered in the City of Fremont,” the letter stated, adding that unhoused people cannot avoid living outdoors when there is no access to housing.
Dozens of advocates and residents begged the council not to pass the ordinance, arguing it was cruel and would not solve the crisis and would instead criminalize unhoused people and those who help them.
