Latest news with #FremontCityCouncil
CBS News
11-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Homeless advocates sue Fremont over strict anti-camping ordinance
A coalition of homeless activists is suing the city of Fremont over its recently enacted anti-camping ordinance, which critics say criminalizes homelessness and charitable outreach to the unhoused. The ordinance was approved by a 6-1 vote of the Fremont City Council in February and aims to give the city broad powers to deal with homeless encampments on public and private property. The new rules specify a jail term of no more than six months and a fine of up to $1,000 for people convicted of camping on sidewalks, streets and parks in Fremont or of aiding, abetting or concealing such behavior. It also prohibits camping on most private property for longer than 72 hours and the storing of personal belongings on public property. And while the council seems poised to remove the "aiding and abetting" language from the ordinance at its March 18 meeting—following widespread concerns that it criminalizes helping homeless people—advocates claim such a move would be ineffective because similar language appears in a different section of Fremont's municipal code. "If the city makes anything unlawful, it also makes aiding and abetting that behavior unlawful," said Anthony Prince, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, the California Homeless Union. "They're trying to minimize its significance and it's illusory at best and fraudulent at worst for the city to be falsely misleading the charitable community and supporters of the unhoused into thinking they're okay." The suit was filed last Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It alleges the ordinance violates the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Religious Land Use and the Institutionalized Persons Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the California Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also likens the way the ordinance treats homeless people to the way runaway slaves were pursued and persecuted in the United States. "Two hundred years ago, by fleeing bondage, the runaway slaves "stole" themselves from their owners, and became, by definition, criminals," the suit claims. "Today, it is the homeless resident of Fremont who has become the criminal, 'fleeing' from the cold of winter and extreme heat of summer that takes the lives of thousands of the unsheltered every year; 'fleeing' the dangers of the unprotected streets and seeking refuge in a tent, car or under a freeway overpass; fleeing hunger and want by taking the outstretched helping hands of the concerned and the compassionate who, under this unconscionable enactment, have also been pushed into the ranks of the hunted and the criminal." Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said Monday the city can't comment on pending litigation but noted it "has agreed to stay enforcement of the Camping Ordinance until the City Council considers an amendment on March 18th." In addition to pursuing the lawsuit, Prince said his organization and local allies plan to present city officials with a letter demanding they suspend enforcement of the ordinance and meet with advocates and people from the homeless community to talk about the main issues involved, including health and safety goals.
Los Angeles Times
06-03-2025
- Los Angeles Times
How a law to ban homeless encampments threw a California city into chaos
FREMONT, Calif. — Dominating one corner of a sprawling homeless encampment on an abandoned lot next to Fremont's rumbling BART tracks, Michael Austin has built his own kind of palace. His makeshift home — a tent fortified with wood paneling, steel poles and chain link fencing — rises two stories high, with a day bed on the first floor and a queen mattress on the second, plenty of cushioning for his 18 cats to get cozy. He's built a fire pit out front, and planted a long pole in the middle of camp to fly the American flag. Scattered throughout his camp, along with piles of dried cat food, is an assortment of tools, scrap metal and motor gear that Austin, 60, transforms into mini go-karts, motorized bikes and scooters. His 20 or so neighbors camping on the lot at Osgood Road and Washington Boulevard live in a grim assortment of tents, tarps and plywood. Normally, Austin said, he likes to keep his space in a state of organized chaos. But lately he sees no point in tidying up. Any day now, he expects orders to pack up and move from the lot he's called home for two years. A new city law bans encampments on public and private property. Violators could face misdemeanor charges, a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. 'I'm going to jail. That's the only way they're getting me out of here,' said Austin, petting his gray cat, Steamer. Maybe he'd voluntarily leave if the city offered him affordable housing that allows his cats and tools, but that seems unlikely. His campsite, with all its cats and clutter, may not be a house, he said, but it's 'my home.' The Fremont City Council adopted the anti-camping ordinance Feb. 11 with a 6-1 vote, making this diverse Bay Area suburb 40 miles southeast of San Francisco the latest in a long line of California cities to pursue tougher enforcement against homeless camping. Local leaders estimate the city has about 800 people who lack a permanent residence, more than 600 of them living unsheltered on the streets or in cars. Although those numbers pale in comparison with the tens of thousands of people living homeless in Los Angeles, it's a visible presence in this family-friendly suburb of roughly 225,000 people. The anti-camping trend has swept through the liberal Bay Area, where local residents have grown weary of tent cities. In city after city, voters have used the ballot box to elect more moderate leadership and push local officials to take back the streets. Democratic-run cities such as Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, among the most liberal jurisdictions in the nation, have all adopted more aggressive enforcement strategies against homeless encampments in the wake of a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June that empowered communities to restrict homeless encampments on public property, even when there is no available shelter. Advocates for this get-tough approach say the Bay Area's reputation for generosity and compassion has had an unanticipated downside, fostering a subculture of chronically homeless people who don't want to be helped. Organizations that advocate on behalf of the homeless, on the other hand, have routinely blasted the camping bans as a short-term bandage that does nothing to solve systemic poverty, untreated mental illness, a dearth of drug treatment programs and a shameful lack of affordable housing. Fremont is the latest Bay Area city to struggle with how best to navigate those turbulent crosswinds. Fremont's ordinance incorporates language adopted by numerous California cities, banning camping in public spaces including sidewalks, waterways and parks. As originally adopted, the ordinance went further to also prohibit 'aiding and abetting' homeless encampments. The language enraged and confused homeless activist groups, who said the 'aiding and abetting' clause posed a direct threat to outreach workers who provide crucial food and medical care to homeless people. 'Punishing people for experiencing homelessness is cruel, and punishing people who just want to help them is cruel,' said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director for the National Homelessness Law Center. During the lengthy Feb. 11 hearing where the ordinance was initially adopted, dozens of advocates and community members lined up to speak in opposition. 'What are we doing?' one man said. 'We are playing musical chairs with people's lives. We're treating them almost as trash.' But plenty of others told council members that they felt the scales of tolerance had tipped too far, and they no longer felt safe in their community. 'I love Fremont. It is my home. But we are living in fear,' one woman said. 'We are living in frustration.' Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan is among the city officials who were surprised by the angry blowback from homeless advocates and local nonprofits. Salwan, a mild-mannered veterinarian who grew up in Fremont, was elected to the nonpartisan mayor's office last November after two four-year stints on the City Council. He said the city has no intention of arresting everyone living outside, let alone the outreach workers who help them. The goal, he said, is to give the city more leverage to get people to accept services and also to ensure safe access to city spaces for all residents. He said the ordinance would give the city the leeway it needed to target egregious violations of the law, and recounted recent incidents of community members helping homeless people build tree houses. The city logged more than 880 complaints last year from residents reporting concerns about encampments, including public nudity, open drug use, human waste and rodent infestations. 'We've stated at least 20 times what our intent is and what we're trying to do,' Salwan said. 'I think some people just don't like the ordinance, so they're going to poke holes one way or another.' He and other city leaders noted that Fremont has a history of investing generously in efforts to support homeless people and get them back into housing. The city funds a 66-bed transitional shelter for families and adults, as well as a navigation center that helps connect people to permanent housing. There's a family resource center that offers job training, mental health services and food assistance, and a winter hotel program. City-funded teams crisscross the city providing mental health and medical care. Unlike many Bay Area suburbs, Fremont is in compliance with state-mandated housing construction goals, with more than 1,300 affordable units in development, according to city officials. 'We're not one of those cities that has run away from the issue, or tried to hide the issue, or sweep the issue. We've always wanted to help tackle it and address it,' Salwan said. At the same time, he said, it's also his job to consider how entrenched homelessness affects the broader community. What about the small business next door to an encampment that is losing customers and struggling to stay open? Or the homeowners who share property lines with an unkempt tent city? What should young kids and their families do when parks and trails are littered with trash and used needles? 'If we want to get the will of the community to do more programs, more shelters, more housing navigation centers,' he said, 'we need to also show them we will address severe concerns that you are having.' Even so, in the face of the pushback from homeless service groups and threats of legal action, the City Council this week revisited the ordinance, just nine days before it was to go into effect. Salwan proposed deleting the 'aiding and abetting' provision, in an effort to reaffirm 'positive relationships with nonprofits, faith‑based organizations and other government agencies.' The council approved the change on another 6-1 vote, and also loosened the camping ban on private residential property to allow camping in limited circumstances, for friends and family, with the owner's consent. The ordinance, originally scheduled to take effect in mid-March, probably will come back to the council for another discussion. Putting the new law into effect will be a delicate balance, city officials said. But 'the intent will never be to arrest someone for being unhoused,' said Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington. 'And in fact, our policies prohibit us from doing that.' Spokesperson Geneva Bosques said the city would prioritize the dismantling of large tent cities, as well as removing smaller encampments that pose immediate health and safety risks. The ordinance requires the city to provide campers with written notice in advance of a sweep. Bosques said the city will store personal belongings for 90 days. One of Fremont's more entrenched encampments is hidden along the tree-lined banks of a large creek in the Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area. It's clear that some of the campers have spent years here, expanding their tent homes into multi-room dwellings connected with wood paneling and tarps. One campsite is surrounded by a white picket fence. Another features a large 'backyard' with an orange couch and potted plants. It's also obvious why the city wants to dismantle the camp. An estimated 25 to 30 people live along the creek in flammable structures, generating trash and debris that pose environmental hazards and have prompted multiple complaints to the city. Brianna Herrera, 31, and her boyfriend, Fernando Luna, were huddled in their own souped-up tent, with 2-month-old puppies toddling around them. Herrera said she has lived in the encampment for years, and gave birth to a daughter there. The tent she shares with her partner has linoleum floors and a generator to provide electricity. She said they support themselves by collecting scrap metal that they sell to a recycling center, bringing in about $200 on a good day. Herrera said she's worried about the new ordinance, and how someone could 'go to jail for being homeless,' but she also understands the risks the encampment poses, including fire, and the concerns about how big it's gotten. She, like Michael Austin across town, is preparing for an evacuation order. 'Usually our places are cleaned up,' Herrera said. 'But we've kind of given up, because we have to leave anyways.'
Fox News
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
New law clamps down on homeless as blue city advocate admits the 'frustration' is justified
A blue California city voted last week to impose a strict ban on camping on public property, including penalties such as fines or jail time for those "causing, permitting, aiding, abetting, or concealing" homeless encampments. While activists argue the ordinance "criminalizes" homelessness, one advocate — who himself once struggled with drug addiction and a period of homelessness — tells Fox News Digital that the Fremont City Council's actions reflect a growing "frustration" with the escalating crisis affecting cities across the state. "This entire ordinance was born out of frustration regarding their inability to mitigate the homeless issue, and because politicians are afraid or lack political will, in many cases, to make the hard choices that need to be made," Tom Wolf, founder of the San Francisco Bay-area nonprofit Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Wolf, who himself was homeless for six months while addicted to fentanyl and heroin in 2018, said that Fremont's ordinance is "not criminalizing homelessness," but rather it is "criminalizing the behaviors that are exhibited by people who happen to be experiencing homelessness and are also struggling with drug addiction." "It's not as controversial as people and the media are blowing it up to be controversial, because it's a departure from the approach that we've been taking for the last eight to 10 years in California, which is, 'Oh, everyone just needs a home,' Wolf said, referring to the state's "Housing First" model adopted several years ago, which prioritizes providing shelter and temporary housing units to homeless without requiring sobriety or wraparound drug addiction services to people. The Fremont City Council voted 6-1 last week in a lengthy session in favor of banning camping on any public property "including any street, sidewalk, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway or any private property not designated and equipped for such camping" as well as "any land designated as a high fire risk area." Fremont is roughly 40 miles south of San Francisco. The new ordinance states that anyone "causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing" encampments shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subjected to either a $1000 fine or up to six months in jail. Violators may also be subjected to a temporary seizure of personal property. "Fremont is not a conservative city," conservative think tank California Policy Center expert Edward Ring told Fox News Digital. "It's part of one of the most liberal regions in the country. So, the fact that they're doing this, it's not a reflection of some sort of harsh conservative mentality." "It's a bipartisan conclusion, a non-partisan conclusion, that the city council has come to, and they've apparently decided that just a ban isn't going to be sufficient, because there are so many groups associated with the homeless nowadays that call themselves advocates for the homeless," Ring added. "But what they're basically doing by aggressively protecting the right of people to camp in public spaces, for example, is perpetuating homelessness," he said. These groups include nonprofits and homeless outreach workers who offer services to homeless people. These services include optional substance abuse treatment, housing, temporary shelter, tents, and even "safe" supplies for drug use, in line with the state-sanctioned "Harm Reduction" model, which focuses on preventing overdoses and infections rather than stopping drug use altogether. Wolf said he takes issue with much of the Harm Reduction's strategy because "people are going to still continue to use because they're out there on the street addicted to drugs." As of the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night completed annually, Fremont reported 612 homeless individuals, marking a 21% decrease from the previous count in 2022. California's homeless population was estimated at approximately 187,000 after last year's PIT count, making it the highest in the nation for unsheltered homeless people. The 2025 count is currently underway across the state's cities. "The purpose of this chapter is to maintain streets, parks and other public and private areas within the city in a clean, sanitary and accessible condition and to adequately protect the health, safety and public welfare of the community, while recognizing that, subject to reasonable conditions, camping and camp facilities associated with special events can be beneficial to the cultural and educational climate in the city," the ordinance reads. It continued, "The use of streets and public areas within the city for camping purposes or for storage of personal property interferes with the rights of the public to use these areas for which they were intended. Such activity can constitute a public health and safety hazard that adversely impacts residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Camping without the consent of the owner and proper sanitary measures adversely affects private property rights, public health, safety, and welfare of the city. Nothing in this chapter is intended to interfere with otherwise lawful and ordinary uses of public or private property." Beyond California, cities like Washougal, Washington, have also adopted anti-camping restrictions, though Fremont's is unique due to its penalties. The anti-camping law comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that local governments have the authority to ban camping on public property, allowing cities to clear homeless encampments. The decision came after the Court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld Boise, Idaho's ban on camping, effectively setting a precedent for other municipalities to follow.
CNN
13-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
California city criminalizes ‘aiding' and ‘abetting' homeless camps
A California city voted to criminalize 'aiding' and 'abetting' homeless camps Tuesday — an unusual move that advocates say could stifle help for people who need it. In addition to making it illegal to camp on public property, the policy that the Fremont City Council voted 6-1 to adopt also makes it a misdemeanor for residents to aid or abet encampments in a city with about 600 unhoused people. Those who violate the policy, which takes effect in 30 days, could be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. What's unclear, however, is exactly what falls under the 'aiding' and 'abetting' umbrella, with experts saying it could criminalize any humanitarian aid to unhoused people —including by service providers, churches distributing food and street medicine teams. 'The language is broad and vague,' said Andrea Henson, executive director and legal counsel at Berkeley non-profit Where Do We Go. 'It can apply to handing out sleeping bags or to social workers. It can also apply to all non-profits, legal organizations or churches that help the homeless with their survival on the streets. A person who lets a friend camp on their own private property can be cited or arrested.' Outreach workers may have to make a choice between potentially keeping someone alive on a cold night by providing them with a tent, or staying out of legal trouble themselves, said Vivian Wan, CEO of Abode Services, a Fremont organization that assists unhoused people. Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said the ordinance in the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area is a 'common sense' protection for neighborhoods, and that encampments are a barrier to homeless people getting the help they need. 'The main question is how do we balance compassion with accountability,' Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said at Tuesday's meeting. 'Everybody should feel safe walking to your library, to your local park, to your public places.' The new policy comes about seven months after the Supreme Court ruled that banning camping on public property does not constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment.' Since the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson decision, over 150 cities across the US have passed laws banning homeless people from sleeping in public places – even when there is no shelter or housing available, according to the National Homelessness Law Center. Of those cities, 45 are in California. A month after the Grants Pass ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to sweep and remove homeless encampments. Cities and counties across the state followed suit, increasing sweeps of camps and instituting 'anti-camping' ordinances. But this is the first such ordinance that criminalizes 'aiding' and 'abetting' homeless people, experts say. 'While we can't say for sure if the Fremont law resulted from the Grants Pass ruling, it applies the same backwards, ineffective and harmful approach inherent in these laws,' said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. 'None of these things will solve homelessness.' City and state officials are uncertain how to respond to a surge in homelessness and encampments that have cropped up under bridges and in city parks across the nation. People who live in those encampments and advocacy groups, meanwhile, say they are alarmed by efforts to criminalize the population rather than build shelters and affordable housing. California was the state with the highest number of people experiencing homelessness in 2024, with more than 187,000 people, according to estimates by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That's more than double the national rate of 23 people experiencing homelessness per 10,000. Between 2023 and 2024, California's homeless population grew by more than 5,600 people. In Alameda County, there were about 6,300 homeless individuals as of 2024. Nationwide, more than 771,000 Americans experienced homelessness on any given night in January 2024 – the largest number since data collection began and an increase of 19% since 2007, according to the department. Fremont's ordinance prohibits 'causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing' encampments 'in or upon any public property,' including any street, sidewalk, park or waterway. It also makes it unlawful for anyone to store personal property on any public property. 'As written, the proposed law is patently unreasonable and will expose the City to legal liability,' a group of 20 organizations wrote in a letter to the city last week. 'It does not specify what types of conduct qualify as 'aiding,' 'permitting,' or 'abetting.'' Fremont City Attorney Rafael Alvarado said the law would not apply to those providing food or clothing to homeless people. 'There would be no basis to pursue criminal enforcement of someone that hands someone else food or clothing under the terms of this ordinance,' Alvarado said at Tuesday's city council meeting. John Do, a senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said that while ordinances like anti-camping and property restrictions have proliferated, this is the first that criminalizes aiding and abetting. 'This is the first with this specific language,' Rabinowitz told CNN. Fremont officials, however, dispute that the ordinance is unique to the city. 'The general prohibition against aiding and abetting violations of municipal code ordinances is relatively common language shared by other California cities,' the city said in a document about the anti-camping law, adding that it 'was not developed specifically for camping ordinance violations nor would it apply uniquely to such violations.' CNN has reached out to the Fremont City Attorney's Office and the mayor for comment. Proponents of the law say it will help keep Fremont residents safe. 'Repeatedly dealing with some of these individuals can unnecessarily place firefighters and police officers in harms way,' the Fremont Police Association said before Tuesday's vote. 'The passage of this ordinance allows the public safety experts to appropriately address public safety issues while still [providing] resources to our unhoused community members.' But the law's application could be unconstitutional, having a 'chilling effect' on those who may not want to risk punishment or who have prior offenses, Henson told CNN. 'Police will have broad discretion to enforce and this can cause a chilling effect on those who assist the unhoused due to fear of punishment,' she said. Most organizations that provide homeless people with material support are non-profits run by volunteers and funded by private donations, Henson said. If they're unable to provide that assistance because of the ordinance, unhoused people will only be isolated further and efforts to reduce homelessness will be stifled, she explained. 'This ordinance sends a strong message of how the City of Fremont is seeking to segregate the unhoused even further to isolate them from service providers and volunteers,' Henson said. 'Individuals will be colder and more likely to suffer in unspeakable ways because local governments are taking away all the necessary tools for survival.' Even if outreach workers are not penalized for providing basic services and supplies like food, blankets and clothes, they are still concerned they could be cited, fined or even arrested if they provide tents, as they often do during cold and wet spells, said Wan, CEO of Abode Services. Despite the city attorney's assurances that outreach staff will not be impacted, Abode is seeking guidance from an attorney to help craft an agreement to propose to the city to ensure that its staff are not subject to this ordinance, Wan said. It would also clarify whether their clients' information will remain confidential and whether supporting people with tents is allowed 'as the language in the ordinance does seem extremely broad,' she said. Restricting outreach could lead to worse health, housing and economic outcomes — while increasing costs to cities in policing and emergency services, Housing California Executive Director Chione Flegal said. 'The mere threat of penalties can deter individuals and organizations from providing essential aid, leaving more people without access to the support they need to survive,' Flegal said. More cities could be empowered by Fremont's ordinance to pursue similar policies, homelessness experts say. 'Cites are going for the quick fix, which is an illusion,' Henson said. It's part of a growing trend 'of limiting advocates' ability to support unhoused neighbors and monitor a city's enforcement practices,' Do said. That includes an increasing number of jurisdictions prohibiting activities like panhandling or providing food to people, he said. 'Targeting people who offer aid to those in need does nothing to solve homelessness,' Do said. Henson said her organization is prepared to file a lawsuit against the city if the law violates the rights of the unhoused or those who help them, she said. 'Right now, if you are unhoused your entire existence is illegal and in the City of Fremont you are also engaged in unlawful behavior if you seek to protect someone from the cold, feed them, help them with an accessible structure, or store their personal belongings,' she said. Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Housing California Executive Director Chione Flegal.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California city criminalizes ‘aiding' and ‘abetting' homeless camps
A California city voted to criminalize 'aiding' and 'abetting' homeless camps Tuesday — an unusual move that advocates say could stifle help for people who need it. In addition to making it illegal to camp on public property, the policy that the Fremont City Council voted 6-1 to adopt also makes it a misdemeanor for residents to aid or abet encampments in a city with about 600 unhoused people. Those who violate the policy, which takes effect in 30 days, could be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. What's unclear, however, is exactly what falls under the 'aiding' and 'abetting' umbrella, with experts saying it could criminalize any humanitarian aid to unhoused people —including by service providers, churches distributing food and street medicine teams. 'The language is broad and vague,' said Andrea Henson, executive director and legal counsel at Berkeley non-profit Where Do We Go. 'It can apply to handing out sleeping bags or to social workers. It can also apply to all non-profits, legal organizations or churches that help the homeless with their survival on the streets. A person who lets a friend camp on their own private property can be cited or arrested.' Outreach workers may have to make a choice between potentially keeping someone alive on a cold night by providing them with a tent, or staying out of legal trouble themselves, said Vivian Wan, CEO of Abode Services, a Fremont organization that assists unhoused people. Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said the ordinance in the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area is a 'common sense' protection for neighborhoods, and that encampments are a barrier to homeless people getting the help they need. 'The main question is how do we balance compassion with accountability,' Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said at Tuesday's meeting. 'Everybody should feel safe walking to your library, to your local park, to your public places.' The new policy comes about seven months after the Supreme Court ruled that banning camping on public property does not constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment.' Since the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson decision, over 150 cities across the US have passed laws banning homeless people from sleeping in public places – even when there is no shelter or housing available, according to the National Homelessness Law Center. Of those cities, 45 are in California. A month after the Grants Pass ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to sweep and remove homeless encampments. Cities and counties across the state followed suit, increasing sweeps of camps and instituting 'anti-camping' ordinances. But this is the first such ordinance that criminalizes 'aiding' and 'abetting' homeless people, experts say. 'While we can't say for sure if the Fremont law resulted from the Grants Pass ruling, it applies the same backwards, ineffective and harmful approach inherent in these laws,' said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. 'None of these things will solve homelessness.' City and state officials are uncertain how to respond to a surge in homelessness and encampments that have cropped up under bridges and in city parks across the nation. People who live in those encampments and advocacy groups, meanwhile, say they are alarmed by efforts to criminalize the population rather than build shelters and affordable housing. California was the state with the highest number of people experiencing homelessness in 2024, with more than 187,000 people, according to estimates by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That's more than double the national rate of 23 people experiencing homelessness per 10,000. Between 2023 and 2024, California's homeless population grew by more than 5,600 people. In Alameda County, there were about 6,300 homeless individuals as of 2024. Nationwide, more than 771,000 Americans experienced homelessness on any given night in January 2024 – the largest number since data collection began and an increase of 19% since 2007, according to the department. Fremont's ordinance prohibits 'causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing' encampments 'in or upon any public property,' including any street, sidewalk, park or waterway. It also makes it unlawful for anyone to store personal property on any public property. 'As written, the proposed law is patently unreasonable and will expose the City to legal liability,' a group of 20 organizations wrote in a letter to the city last week. 'It does not specify what types of conduct qualify as 'aiding,' 'permitting,' or 'abetting.'' Fremont City Attorney Rafael Alvarado said the law would not apply to those providing food or clothing to homeless people. 'There would be no basis to pursue criminal enforcement of someone that hands someone else food or clothing under the terms of this ordinance,' Alvarado said at Tuesday's city council meeting. John Do, a senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said that while ordinances like anti-camping and property restrictions have proliferated, this is the first that criminalizes aiding and abetting. 'This is the first with this specific language,' Rabinowitz told CNN. Fremont officials, however, dispute that the ordinance is unique to the city. 'The general prohibition against aiding and abetting violations of municipal code ordinances is relatively common language shared by other California cities,' the city said in a document about the anti-camping law, adding that it 'was not developed specifically for camping ordinance violations nor would it apply uniquely to such violations.' CNN has reached out to the Fremont City Attorney's Office and the mayor for comment. Proponents of the law say it will help keep Fremont residents safe. 'Repeatedly dealing with some of these individuals can unnecessarily place firefighters and police officers in harms way,' the Fremont Police Association said before Tuesday's vote. 'The passage of this ordinance allows the public safety experts to appropriately address public safety issues while still [providing] resources to our unhoused community members.' But the law's application could be unconstitutional, having a 'chilling effect' on those who may not want to risk punishment or who have prior offenses, Henson told CNN. 'Police will have broad discretion to enforce and this can cause a chilling effect on those who assist the unhoused due to fear of punishment,' she said. Most organizations that provide homeless people with material support are non-profits run by volunteers and funded by private donations, Henson said. If they're unable to provide that assistance because of the ordinance, unhoused people will only be isolated further and efforts to reduce homelessness will be stifled, she explained. 'This ordinance sends a strong message of how the City of Fremont is seeking to segregate the unhoused even further to isolate them from service providers and volunteers,' Henson said. 'Individuals will be colder and more likely to suffer in unspeakable ways because local governments are taking away all the necessary tools for survival.' Even if outreach workers are not penalized for providing basic services and supplies like food, blankets and clothes, they are still concerned they could be cited, fined or even arrested if they provide tents, as they often do during cold and wet spells, said Wan, CEO of Abode Services. Despite the city attorney's assurances that outreach staff will not be impacted, Abode is seeking guidance from an attorney to help craft an agreement to propose to the city to ensure that its staff are not subject to this ordinance, Wan said. It would also clarify whether their clients' information will remain confidential and whether supporting people with tents is allowed 'as the language in the ordinance does seem extremely broad,' she said. Restricting outreach could lead to worse health, housing and economic outcomes — while increasing costs to cities in policing and emergency services, Housing California communications director Alex Brown said. 'The mere threat of penalties can deter individuals and organizations from providing essential aid, leaving more people without access to the support they need to survive,' Brown said. More cities could be empowered by Fremont's ordinance to pursue similar policies, homelessness experts say. 'Cites are going for the quick fix, which is an illusion,' Henson said. It's part of a growing trend 'of limiting advocates' ability to support unhoused neighbors and monitor a city's enforcement practices,' Do said. That includes an increasing number of jurisdictions prohibiting activities like panhandling or providing food to people, he said. 'Targeting people who offer aid to those in need does nothing to solve homelessness,' Do said. Henson said her organization is prepared to file a lawsuit against the city if the law violates the rights of the unhoused or those who help them, she said. 'Right now, if you are unhoused your entire existence is illegal and in the City of Fremont you are also engaged in unlawful behavior if you seek to protect someone from the cold, feed them, help them with an accessible structure, or store their personal belongings,' she said.
