Fresno City Council gets feedback from community on homeless encampment ordinance
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A special meeting drew a packed house and caused a long day as the Fresno City Council discussed an ordinance to crackdown on homeless encampments on Monday.
The measure passed the first reading unanimously, but not before more than 70% people spoke on the issue, with only two in favor.
The ordinance states, "No person may sit, lie, sleep or camp in a public place at any time."
That includes sidewalks, streets, alleyways and other public spaces.
The action comes after a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling last month means that cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping, even if they have nowhere else to go.
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom urged cities across the state to begin cracking down.
Many at Monday's meeting raised concerns about how the measure, which would include punishments of up to a year in jail and a $1,000, would be more harmful than helpful.
"If you guys cared about anybody else you guys would work with a solution to figure this out instead of just criminalizing people," said Krystal, who has lived in a shelter for two years.
Krystal spoke at the meeting Monday and says she feels stuck in her efforts to find stable housing.
"It's just really hard. When you get to become homeless its hard to come out of it. Especially when you got to do everything just to survive. I didn't think it was actually going to be that hard until I became homeless myself," explained Krystal.
RELATED: Newsom issues executive order for removal of homeless encampments in California
People packed into the council's chamber for the meeting, most there to express outrage over the proposed ordinance.
The ordinance states, "No person may sit, lie, sleep or camp in a public place at any time."
That includes sidewalks, streets, alleyways and other public spaces.
"It is very discouraging for us to see our city and county governments proposing an ordinance that is not only un-Christian but has also been shown to be ineffective. How can we hold the homeless accountable when there is no where to go?" asked Candy Paulsen the council.
The action comes after a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling last month means that cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping, even if they have nowhere else to go.
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom urged cities across the state to begin cracking down.
Fresno acted quickly, calling a special city council meeting to introduce the ordinance.
If allowed to move forward, it would come back before the council for a vote next month.
While many say this enforcement is long overdue, the unhoused and their advocates slamming just the idea of the ordinance.
"We, the community behind me, put you in those seats and you're sitting there right now using your power to kill us. Every unhoused individual out here right now is walking on death row. You have now signed every unhoused individual in Fresno their death certificate,"" Dez Martinez told the council.
However, council members say they consistently hear from residents and business owners who say it makes them feel unsafe -- and is a threat to businesses.
Police and council members insisted this would not be a round-up but a measure only used in extreme cases, including those using drugs openly in the street.
"We certainly don't plan on going out and doing sweeps to make a number of arrests for any reason. This is going to be a tool for the officers to use when a problem just can't be solved any other way," said Fresno Police Interim Chief Mindy Casto.
"The first step is to offer someone help. We have help here in our city if people are willing to take it and so if folks don't want help, the next step will be to either give them a citation, but the very last step will be to take them to jail," added council president Annalisa Perea.
Krystal was wary of that promise.
"They say that everybody is refusing the help right now, but everybody wants help," said Krystal.
Although the council passed the ordinance onto a second reading, some members wanted clarification before the next reading.
"That's one of the reasons of why I asked the question about how are we going to define the habitual offender? Because I don't want to be in the space of getting in the way of a domestic violence victim losing their children because they don't have a place to go," said council member Luiz Chavez.
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