Homeless camping ban OK’d in Fresno despite last-minute vote change. ‘A lot of confusion’

One Fresno City Council member had a change of heart, but that wasn’t enough to block the final approval of an ordinance to ban camping by the homeless on public property throughout the city — accompanied by the prospect of fines and arrests.

Council President Annalisa Perea, who joined the other six City Council members to vote yes when the ordinance had its initial introduction less than three weeks ago, ultimately voted no on Thursday following nearly two hours of public comment against the measure.

Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Garry Bredefeld, Nelson Esparza, Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell all voted yes, while a seventh member, Luis Chavez, was absent for the vote.

Perea explained that her “no” vote was based on her agreement with several speakers that the language of the ordinance — which provides that “no person may sit, lie, sleep or camp on a public place at any time” — was overly broad and vague.

“That’s resulted in a lot of confusion,” said Perea, referring to speakers who expressed fears of people facing the prospect of citation or arrest for such things as simply relaxing in a park.

“But I understand because the language is very confusing ... I think it sends the wrong message to the community as to what our actual intent is for this.”

When it takes effect Sept. 15, the ordinance will prohibit sleeping or camping in any pedestrian or vehicle entrance to public or private property along a public sidewalk. And another provision states that “no person may sit, lie, sleep or camp on a property designated as a sensitive use,” including schools, child-care facilities, parks, libraries, government buildings, warming or cooling centers, or existing homeless shelters.

Violations of the ordinance would be considered a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $1,000 or one year in jail.

Several speakers expressed their dismay and anger over the ordinance, and vowed to launch recall efforts against council members who voted to enact it.

Fresno attorney Kevin Little said the ordinance is “vague and overbroad” and likely to subject the city to legal challenges by civil rights organizations. “It’s going to cost the city lots of money to defend that,” he said. “It’s going to very likely require the city to pay a quarter of a million dollars or more in attorney fees.”

Little added that while the ordinance provides police officers with wide discretion to refer people to resources, “each one of you (council members) sitting here knows that there are inadequate resources.”

“So are people going to be arrested simply because there’s nothing to refer them to? That would be the height of arbitrariness,” he said. “Long story short: We’re creating a mess, and law enforcement is not prepared to enforce this ordinance. There’s been no training on how to exercise the enormous discretion that they have under this ordinance, and people like me in the court system are going to have to clean up the mess that this ordinance creates.”

The vague and broad language that Little and other speakers decried were also the misgivings expressed by Perea.

“Due to the vagueness of the ordinance, while I can respect the spirit of what my colleagues and I are trying to achieve, I think it leaves a lot of room for interpretation that may not be the intent, at least for me,” Perea said.

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

Prior to the initial vote July 29, the ordinance’s sponsors — Mayor Jerry Dyer, Arias, Bredefeld and Maxwell — said the measure is aimed at a small percentage of homeless people who habitually defy requests from police officers to move their makeshift camps from sidewalks, alleys, parks and other places where they interfere with businesses or harass residents, and who refuse offers of social services or other assistance.

“The people of Fresno have been patient long enough, and their patience has run out,” Dyer said last month. “They are fed up. We are fed up.”

The backers cited instances of public health nuisances and criminal conduct by some of the more problematic people among the homeless. “They defecate on the front sidewalk in front of businesses, they urinate on businesses, they steal copper wire, they set fires, they break into homes and start fires,” Dyer said in July. “Those problem offenders are the ones that are most likely to face arrest.”

Fresno’s ordinance, and the introduction of a similar ordinance by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors covering unincorporated areas of the county, came on the heels of two recent developments regarding homeless encampments:

• A Supreme Court decision in June that civil and criminal penalties for camping in public areas do not represent “cruel and unusual punishment” for homeless individuals under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
• An executive order issued last month by California Gov. Gavin Newsom for state agencies to adopt policies to clear homeless encampments on state property and encouraging local city and county agencies to do the same.

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