Fresno’s anti-encampment law gets final approval, enforcement begins next month

This story was originally published by Fresnoland , a nonprofit news organization.

The Fresno City Council officially adopted its anti-camping ordinance to the outrage of community members who spoke in opposition during public comment.

Councilmembers gave final approval Thursday for the ordinance that will punish residents for sleeping and building encampments on public spaces with fines and jail time. The move was seen as a victory for anxious local business owners and residents who said the rise of camps in their neighborhoods created health and safety concerns, and infringed on their rights to comfortably access places like public parks.

However, homeless advocates and many other community members have been steadfast in their criticisms of the city’s ordinance, which they say criminalizes unhoused people.

The approved policy, which is a revival of a scrapped 2017 policy, is expected to go into effect Sept. 15.

The ordinance passed in a 5-1 vote, with City Council President Annalisa Perea registering the sole “no” vote. Councilmember Luis Chavez was absent for part of Thursday’s meeting, including when the ordinance vote took place.

Perea said she has some concerns about the ordinance, and agrees with community members who criticized its language as being too “broad” and “vague.”

“I think it sends the wrong message to the community as to what our actual intent is with this item,” Perea said. “I don’t want that to dilute the good work that we have done in the city for the unhoused community. I believe the intent was missed.

“I will be watching this item closely if it is passed today to see how it is implemented in our city,” Perea later added. “My commitment to my colleagues and to the community is that we will bring back amendments if needed to better serve this community.”

Kevin Little, a local attorney, said he believes the ordinance is “ill-conceived” and could face legal challenges from groups like the ACLU.

“We’re creating a mess and people like me in the court system are going to have to clean up the mess that this ordinance creates,” Little said.

The near-two-hour-long public comment period saw most people speaking against the ordinance, with people like Cindy Piombino — a local housing advocate — calling the policy “inhumane.” Others asked the council to consider drawing attention to the sale of drugs and surge in overdose deaths in the city — issues they said have a direct impact on the number of homeless encampments in Fresno.

Dez Martinez, founder and leader of We Are Not Invisible, a local homeless advocacy group, said she believes the city’s Homeless Assistance Response Team is a misguided approach to solving encampment issues. HART will be the main enforcement unit for the city’s anti-camping ordinance.

A response team going after street-level drug dealing that sells to unhoused people, Martinez said, would be a better use of the city’s resources.

She also believes city leaders need to be specifically focusing on young adults, families, elderly and veterans who have no shelter and are out on the streets.

Martinez said she plans to walk from Fresno to the state Capitol in Sacramento and “fight for housing” in September

“I don’t care how long it takes us to get there, but we’re going to get there because we’re going to walk for housing,” Martinez said. “We’re going to show them how much we want it.”

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors is expected to finalize the county ordinance on Tuesday. The two jurisdictions will make the most populous region in the central San Joaquin Valley subject to anti-encampment ordinances next month.

In July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order encouraging local jurisdictions to use the authority gained in the U.S. Supreme Court Grants Pass ruling — allowing local governments to penalize people from sleeping in public spaces — to clear encampments in their area.

Newsom said in a news conference last week that he would redirect state funding away from jurisdictions who don’t “show results” on encampment clearings, beginning next year. The state rescinded $10 million in tiny homes funding from San Diego County, redirecting most of it to the City of San Jose.

Questions remain on enforcement
A closed session agenda item on the Thursday meeting noted that the Fresno City Council would discuss matters related to the county-owned Elkhorn Correctional Facility near Caruthers — about 15 miles south of the city.

In an exclusive story early Thursday, Fresnoland revealed that some city officials were eyeing the purchase of the facility as a means to increase the number of homeless shelter beds in the region. Councilmember Miguel Arias confirmed to Fresnoland that under his proposal, the facility could be used to alleviate the burden on the Fresno County jail, following the city’s anti-camping ordinance.

Fresno County officials have told Fresnoland that they are not interested in a sale. On Thursday morning, a county news release said the county has already approved the Elkhorn facility to be turned into a regional training center for law enforcement.

Questions remain on the implementation of certain tenets of the ordinance — primarily how the city will store possessions from the unhoused after they are jailed under the anti-camping ordinance.

At a July 26 news conference city officials promised harsh law enforcement action upon unhoused people who refuse offered services.

Stray pet community angst continues; Fresno looks to pass penalties on breeders
Fresno residents also spoke out against the city’s planned crackdown on illegal pet breeders.

Residents asked the City Council to lift a moratorium on the Fresno Animal Center taking healthy animals in, especially as schools come back in session and kids are spending more time outside.

“I know that humane euthanasia numbers would definitely increase, but we need to keep our community safe, especially our children,” said one community member at public comment, advocating for the city to change its moratorium on healthy animals.

On Wednesday, Perea, the council president, and Councilmember Garry Bredefeld held a joint news conference to bring forward a proposal to fine individuals for illegally breeding and selling pets in Fresno. The item got approved on the consent agenda Thursday. It will go up for final vote during the Aug. 29 City Council meeting.

Change to Fresno’s public safety alarm policy postponed
The Fresno City Council also discussed whether to repeal Fresno’s public safety alarm policy to more closely align with the police department’s response procedures.

Councilmembers and Interim Police Chief Mindy Casto were on the same page that regardless of a place having a history of false security alarms going off, police should still respond.

Additionally, Councilmember Mike Karbassi called attention to how current city policy allows the police department to fine businesses with security systems that trigger false alarm emergency responses.

He motioned to have the item be postponed to a future meeting, to revise whether businesses should be charged $155 for every subsequent false alarm beginning with their second.