{"id":70707,"date":"2025-02-14T17:46:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T01:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=70707"},"modified":"2025-02-14T17:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T01:46:45","slug":"fremont-city-council-passes-measure-criminalizing-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=70707","title":{"rendered":"Fremont City Council Passes Measure Criminalizing Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The East Bay Area bedroom community has imposed one of the harshest anti-homeless measures in California. But council members said the ordinance is not intended to be punitive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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FREMONT, California \u2014 Shortly before midnight Feb. 11, the Fremont City Council passed an ordinance which criminalizes homelessness as a misdemeanor offense with penalties of up to 6 months in jail and fines of $1000.<\/p>\n

The new ordinance is one of the harshest such measures in California. It prohibits \u201ccamping\u201d on public property and allows for only 72 hours of \u201ccamping\u201d on private property. Camping is defined as living in an encampment, but also living in a large vehicle, such as an RV.<\/p>\n

The new measure also imposes a fine of up to $1,000 for people who \u201caid and abet\u201d homeless people. The language is vague: Fremont Vice Mayor Desrie Campbell asked for a halt of the vote so that clarifying language could be added. Two council members asked for a reduction in the amount of fines. But the measure passed without those amendments. Campbell was the lone dissenting vote.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cruel Ordinance\u2019<\/h2>\n

City Hall was packed with people waiting to offer a 1-minute comment; lines snaked outside the building, despite the chilly temperature. 194 people registered, but only 70 got a chance to speak during the 5-hour meeting.<\/p>\n

Several speakers described the ordinance as cruel. Theresa Ballard, board chair for Abode \u2014 a shelter for homeless people \u2014 noted that the measure would simply shuffle people from one city to another, without addressing the root causes of homelessness. Others noted that homeless people released from jail would once again be out on the streets, since Fremont currently lacks sufficient resources to shelter all unhoused people living within its boundaries.<\/p>\n

But several people said they were scared to walk on Fremont\u2019s streets, especially with their children, for fear of being accosted by a mentally-ill homeless person. Others noted that the small fires created in encampments could go out of control, creating disasters similar to the recent fires in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

Employed But Homeless<\/h2>\n

Fremont spends $7 million annually to provide an array of services to unhoused people, noted City Manager Karena Shackleford. \u201cWe are always looking for opportunities to provide more shelter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to the 2024\u00a0Point in Time<\/a>\u00a0survey, in which volunteers go out onto streets to record information about the number of unsheltered people, Fremont has 807 homeless people. 612 people live on the streets, while 195 are in shelters. 62% live in RVs, while 20% live in tents. 10% live directly on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

About 14% of Fremont\u2019s unhoused population are employed. More than 25% are over the age of 55. And 23% have serious mental illnesses.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Ruling<\/h2>\n

Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan noted that 2,000 units of affordable housing are being built and should be available within the next 3 years. He called for additional shelter units to also be built.<\/p>\n

Fremont is one of the Bay Area\u2019s most expensive housing markets, with average home prices at $1.5 million. The average monthly rent for a studio is $2100. Prices have increased dramatically over the past 15 years as the region evolves into a hub for tech and biotech companies. Fremont Economic Development Director Donovan Lazaro said homeless encampments were deterring the city\u2019s economic growth.<\/p>\n

Rafael Alvarado Jr., Fremont\u2019s city attorney, noted that 22 towns in California have similar ordinances. Last July, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0urging cities and towns to remove their encampments. And in June, the Supreme Court ruled in\u00a0Grants Pass vs. Johnson<\/a>\u00a0that cities can enforce camping bans on public property. Alvarado clarified that the ordinance would not penalize people providing food, water, or clothing to homeless people.<\/p>\n

Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington said his force would only impose the new ordinance in situations of great danger to others. He noted that a camping ban for Fremont parks is already on the books, but said police have not made a single arrest. \u201cOur intent is never to arrest someone who is unhoused. Only in extreme situations would we escalate,\u201d he said. \u201cThe objective is to gain compliance, not to be punitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySunita Sohrabji Feb 12, 2025 The...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70708,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70707\/revisions\/70708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}