Several California cities are cracking down on homeless encampments, defying the whims of homeless “advocates” whose practices make sure encampments are blossoming all across their cities.
After the Supreme Court allowed localities to ban homeless encampments in public areas, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ordered cities across the state to begin clearing encampments. Newsom even threatened the state funds going to cities that refused to clear encampments. While Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Democrats have decided they want to fight this and allow their encampments to continue, other major cities in California have cracked down. That list includes San Francisco (the fourth largest city in California), Fresno (the fifth largest), and Oakland (the eighth largest).
Fremont, the 16th largest city in the state, has gone even further. On Tuesday, the Fremont City Council voted 6-1 in favor of creating a misdemeanor crime for anyone who is caught “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” a homeless encampment. Naturally, homeless “advocates” and other left-wing activists are panicking over this, despite the city saying the law only applies to people who build structures at homeless encampments and not those providing homeless people with sleeping bags or tents.
California’s homeless problem is an example of misplaced empathy, whether that be from legislators and city leaders refusing to crack down on encampments or nonprofit organizations that inadvertently perpetuate homelessness by aiding encampments or allowing homeless people to fall further into drug addiction. By decriminalizing every aspect of homelessness, California created a permission structure that allowed people to create encampments that pose public safety and public health hazards.
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The answer all along has been for cities to push homeless people toward shelters and treatment programs, with the alternative being jail time. Homeless encampments of any size in public areas are unacceptable, and Fremont is right to crack down not just on the encampments but also on anyone helping promote them. The goal must be discouraging encampments from forming and eliminating existing ones. Anything less is a public safety and public health failure.
If that means that homeless activists need to reevaluate their methods to focus less on aiding encampments and more on helping get homeless people off the streets, then so be it. The status quo of homeless encampments popping up and expanding has been a failure for city residents and homeless people alike, and cities such as Fremont should have all options on the table to change it.