A Bay Area city took an aggressive approach to its homeless problem Tuesday by banning public camping as well as criminalizing anyone who helps vagrants set up makeshift shelters.

The Fremont City Council voted 6-1 in favor of its new ordinance that prohibits camping on public property and bars anyone from “aiding or abetting” the homeless camps — a misdemeanor that could cost someone up to $1,000 with six months jail time.

What constitutes assisting a homeless encampment remains fuzzy.

Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan told Oakland’s KTVU that outreach workers aren’t the targets of his city’s enforcement push.

“You can give food, you can give water, a tent, you can help people,” Mr. Salwan told the TV station. “The only thing you can’t do is, you can’t build tree houses on creeks.”

City Attorney Rafael Alvarado Jr. said the ordinance specifically bans camping and storing personal property on public property.    

“So if you aid and abet those acts, then you could be subject to penalty under this ordinance,” Mr. Alvarado.

Outreach workers aren’t convinced they’re in the clear.

Greg Ward, a minister at Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, told The San Francisco Standard that his church’s “blessing bags” of food and clothing may be seen as prohibited aid.  

“Putting [the bags] in the hands of the unhoused could be aiding and abetting,” he told the news site. “That could make us criminals.”

Vice Mayor Desrie Campbell was the only council member to vote against the ordinance, saying the city should instead focus on adding more shelter beds to get people off the street.  

Fremont’s new law is part of a growing crackdown on homelessness throughout the country after the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson decision last year let cities ban public camping even if no shelter beds are available.

The National Homelessness Law Center said nearly 150 cities across 32 states have passed laws targeting the encampments since then, including 40 cities in California — where a quarter of the nation’s 770,000-person homeless population has congregated. 

Fremont has 612 homeless people, according to the city’s 2024 point-in-time count.

Prior to the vote, Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington said the new ordinance is meant to be another tool if homeless people don’t disassemble their tents on their own. 

“Arrest is the last option,” the chief said. “And it’s only in those extreme situations, where we do identify some sort of conflict, hazard or safety issue, and we’re unable to get cooperation when that occurs.”

The ordinance goes into effect 30 days after it was passed.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.