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The Blue California city voted last week to impose a strict ban on camping on public property. This includes penalties such as fines and penalties such as prison hours.
Activists argue that the ordinance “criminalizes” homelessness, but one advocate – advocate who once suffered from a period of drug addiction and homelessness, Fremont City Council’s actions will affect the escalating crisis He told Fox News Digital that it reflects “frustration.” state.
“The whole ordinance was born out of frustration about not being able to alleviate the problem of homelessness. Politicians are often afraid of or lacking political will to make the tough choices they need to make. It’s because,” Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, a nonprofit in the San Francisco Bay Area, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Wolf, who was homeless for six months himself while relying on fentanyl and heroin in 2018, said that Fremont’s ordinance “doesn’t criminalize homelessness,” but rather “people experiencing homelessness are not “We will criminalize the actions we show.” He also suffers from drug addiction. ”
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Split image of the homeless and fentanyl (Getty Images)
“It’s been controversial enough for people and the media to cause controversy, because it’s a departure from the approach we’ve taken in California for the last eight to ten years. My home said,” Wolf said. I said. It refers to the state’s “first housing” model adopted several years ago. people.
Fremont City Council voted 6-1 in a lengthy session last week, supporting a ban on camping on public property. For such camps, “land designated as a high temperature risk area.”
Fremont is approximately 40 miles south of San Francisco.
The new ordinance states that “anyone “causing, aiding, beating, or concealing” camps will commit misdemeanor charges and will be subject to a $1,000 fine or up to six months in prison. Violators may also suffer temporary seizure of personal property.
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On Wednesday, January 8th, 2025, a homeless camp in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.
“Fremont is not a conservative city,” Edwarding, an expert at the conservative think tank, California Policy Center, 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 doesn’t reflect some sort of harsh conservative mentality.”
“It’s a bipartisan conclusion, a nonpartisan conclusion that the city council has come, and they decided that the ban would clearly not be enough. Call them homeless supporters,” adds Ring. Ta.
“But what they do by actively protecting their right to camp in public places is, for example, perpetuate homelessness,” he said.
These groups include nonprofits and homeless outreach workers who serve homeless people. These services include optional substance abuse treatment, housing, temporary shelters, tents, and even “safe” supplies for drug use. Overall.
Wolf said he has problems with many of his harm reduction strategies because “people are there on the streets where they’re addicted to drugs, so people will still continue to use it.”
Fremont reported that as of the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) count, it provided a snapshot of the homeless, completed one night each year, marking a 21% decrease from its previous count in 2022.
California’s homeless population is estimated at around 187,000 since pit count last year, making it the highest in the country for unsheltered homeless people. 2025 is currently underway across cities in the state.
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Auckland Homeless Camp (Getty Images)
“The purpose of this chapter is to maintain clean, sanitary and accessible conditions in cities, streets, parks and other public and private areas, and to adequately protect the health, safety and public welfare of our communities. Reasonable conditions, camping and camping facilities related to special events are beneficial to the city’s cultural and educational environment,” the ordinance reads.
“The use of streets and public areas within the city for camping purposes or for the storage of personal property will interfere with the public’s right to use these areas as intended. Such activities will include public health and safety. It could constitute a risk of the property. It will adversely affect the residential neighbours and commercial areas without the consent of the owner to interfere with the legal and normal use of public or private property.”
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Beyond California, cities like Washgar, Washington, have also adopted fine restrictions, but Fremont is unique because of penalties.
The Camp Act comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last year found that local governments had the power to prohibit camping on public property and that cities had the power to clean homeless camps. The decision comes after it refused to review a lower court ruling that it upheld Boise, an Idaho camp ban, and effectively set a precedent for other municipalities to follow.
Lindsay Kornick of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
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