ABODE’S RESPONSE TO FREMONT CITYWIDE CAMPING BAN ORDINANCE
Leading with a combination of intelligence, compassion, and a fact-based, clear-eyed vision for the future has long been a hallmark of Fremont’s political leadership. That rare mix has made Fremont a wonderful place to raise a family and is partly why Abode has proudly made the city its headquarters.
Unfortunately, little-to-none of those qualities can describe a policy change the Fremont City Council is considering tonight, when it will vote whether to expand its ban on “camping and storage of personal property on public land, including any street, sidewalk, City building, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway,” according to the city staff report. Council members also will vote to create an “explicit enforcement authority for abatement of personal property left on public property for 24 hours.”
These rule changes might sound benign but their results will be quite harmful. Simply put, the new law will make it easier for authorities to sweep encampments of people experiencing homelessness, which will harm – not help – our community.
At Abode, we condemn this proposal, which is ineffective and cruel. It fails to provide actual solutions to the issue.
In reality, the solution to homelessness is a home – not inadequate proposals such as the one being considered by the City Council.
Our stance on the issue of sweeping encampments is clear:
Homelessness is not a crime, it is a crisis – one that is a result of systemic failures that have produced fewer than 24 affordable units for every 100 people who need them.
In the Bay Area, some would have to earn as much as $78 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment. (For low-wage workers, that would mean working up to five full-time minimum-wage jobs.)
Criminalizing homelessness is wrong. It is cruel, ineffective, and costly.
It also worsens cycles of homelessness and makes it more difficult to find real solutions.
On May 21, 2024, the City of Fremont adopted its first Homelessness Response Plan. Nowhere in that plan did it call for this current harmful ordinance that is ineffective, costly, and leads with enforcement. The core strategies of the adopted plan call for prevention of homelessness, increasing real housing solutions, connecting people to shelter and other resources, mitigating the impact by providing safe alternatives, and strengthening coordination in homelessness response. With this new proposal, the City isn’t following its own plan.
The City of Fremont supports 111 year-round shelter beds, but has six times as many people experiencing homelessness as there are beds to accommodate them. More enforcement will just move people around, creating community costs to both those experiencing homelessness and the neighborhoods of Fremont. Resources would be better spent deploying real solutions and partnering with providers to truly end homelessness. The city did not even reach out to Abode Services, the largest agency in the Bay Area driving homelessness solutions – one that has been providing services to Fremont for more than 35 years.
We ask that Fremont leaders reject this proposed policy change for the same reasons we condemned the Supreme Court’s recent Grants Pass v. Johson ruling. Just moving people around isn’t going to solve homelessness. Sweeping an encampment is no solution, if the individuals living there have nowhere to go.
It is gravely disappointing – even heartbreaking – to see City of Fremont leaders begin to try this same failed policy.
Today, we call on Fremont’s leaders to continue to work on the real solution – providing homes – so that someone experiencing homelessness today will soon have a dignified place to live.
Garbage and debris get swept. In a truly civilized society, human beings are not. In a just society that reflects the best values of Fremont and the San Francisco Bay Area, human beings are treated with compassion and care – no matter what struggles they’re facing.
We are calling for council members tonight (Dec. 17) to reject the citywide camping ban on public property. At Abode, we strongly urge the Fremont City Council to revert back to form and lead with an intelligent, clear-eyed vision for the future that is compassionate and effective.