Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau is proposing an anti-camping ordinance for all unincorporated areas of the county in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling last month that allows camping bans.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will consider the ordinance on Aug. 6.
The backstory: Anti-camping ordinances on the west coast took a hit in 2018 in Martin v. City of Boise. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that cities can only enforce anti-camping ordinances, but only if they have enough homeless shelter beds available for those in need.
- The Ninth Circuit issued a similar ruling in 2020 in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which prevented local and state governments from fining the homeless for camping.
- But the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit’s ruling last month, paving the way for local and state governments to resume efforts to clear encampments off the streets.
The big picture: Brandau’s proposal would prohibit unpermitted camping on public property in all unincorporated areas of Fresno County both during the day and overnight.
- It also would prohibit the obstruction of public access to sidewalks, trails, entrances to public facilities and other public rights-of-way.
- That includes schools, playgrounds, parks, libraries, fire hydrants, emergency parking zones, overpasses, freeway ramps, bridges, railroads and other areas.
- The ordinance would ban people from bathing in public fountains and from urinating or defecating on public property that is not designated as a restroom.
Go deeper: If the ordinance passes, Fresno County will not penalize the homeless immediately on first contact.
- Violators will only be penalized after the county makes attempts to divert them to behavioral health or housing services. Fresno County will offer to provide transportation to any such services.
- Violators would face a $500 fine and up to six months in jail.
State of play: Along with Brandau’s proposal, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Thursday directing state agencies and departments to remove homeless encampments from state property.
What they’re saying: “Even in rural Fresno County, the communities in rural Fresno County, we’ve seen more and more homeless activity as the years go by,” Brandau said. “I think 10 years ago, I think most of this felt like homelessness was a very urban thing, but now we’re finding it in rural parts of our county. So it needs to be addressed there as well.”
- Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, whose department would be responsible for sweeping the encampments, said the goal is to not criminalize homelessness.
- “Our goal is not to cite people and arrest people and incarcerate them because they are unhoused,” Zanoni said. “Our goal is to get them from being some sort of public nuisance so people don’t have to walk around their stuff or their encampment on the sidewalk – kids going to school, and parents don’t have to deal with that.”
- Zanoni said the goal is to get the homeless into programs and services offered by the county.
