Fresno City Council approves encampment ban, ordinance passed in Visalia
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- In 30 days, the City of Fresno Police Department will enforce a new ordinance prohibiting camping in public places to remove homeless encampments.
The motion passed with five city council members voting "yes," and President Annalisa Perea voting "no" during Thursday morning's city council meeting.
"This is about dealing with a subculture of the homeless who refuse to get help, doing drugs, engaging in criminal activity, harassing businesses and people in neighborhoods," councilmember Garry Bredefeld said.
The ordinance prohibits camping in public places, sitting, or lying on public places including streets, sidewalks and alleys.
It's a final decision Bredefeld says is necessary following Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order, directing state agencies to make a plan to remove encampments.
Newsom has also said local agencies that don't follow suit will lose out on state funding next year.
The state action followed a decision by the Supreme Court in June.
"Now, the Supreme Court ruling gives us the means to enforce that and we are going to," Bredefeld.
Community members who disagreed with the motion attended the meeting, voicing their concerns.
"It's inhumane, it's also unworkable, and it's going to create so many problems for the unhoused community and our society as a whole," attorney Kevin Little said.
Little is an attorney and believes those problems include filling up courtrooms with people who are not criminals and simply need help.
He believes there is a better way to solve the homeless crisis.
"We need to have longer-term housing tied to effective services and job training programs to get people's lives turned around. Not punish and incarcerated," Little said.
Bredefeld assures there are resources for people in need.
"There are many people who were homeless who said we are tired of this lifestyle, sought help, got help, and led a productive life," Bredefeld said. "There are services out there, people ready to help them, but many people do not want help."
The Fresno Police Department will enforce the new ordinance once it's in effect on September 15.
Violations can result in a misdemeanor, up to one year in jail, or fines of up to $1,000.
The city will store the property of anyone arrested.
On Wednesday, the Visalia City Council voted 4-1 to pass an emergency ordinance that will no longer allow overnight camping in public parks and trails.
At the meeting, Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar said the ordinance is not an answer to the problem, but allows officers to work with partners to get people more services.
"It gives us another tool to take enforcement where we need to, throughout the city, to address the issues that we do have and, obviously, our parks are our concern," said Chief Salazar.
Visalia's emergency ordinance is going into effect immediately.
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