FREMONT, Calif.—The city of Fremont on Feb. 11 passed a sweeping homeless camping ban with a 6–1 vote following two hours of public comments in a regular council meeting.
The ordinance forbids anyone from camping or maintaining an encampment on any public properties or any private properties without the owner’s consent.
The measure also states that the act of “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” a homeless encampment will be considered a misdemeanor. An offender will be punished with up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both.
“The City of Fremont ... is committed to protecting the life, health, and safety of its residents and all people within the geographical boundaries of the City,” the ordinance states.
In 2024, Alameda County counted 614 unsheltered homeless people in Fremont, and the city counted approximately 223 encampments in 2022 and 2023 and collected more than 409 tons of trash, the ordinance states.
The encampment activities pose “significant health and safety hazards” to the campers themselves and other residents, it states.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that encampment and homeless-related impacts are the number one issue that we have to deal with,” Donovan Lazaro, director of economic development, said in the council meeting.
On a daily basis, complaints and concerns are filed to his department from businesses ranging from small mom-and-pop restaurants and retailers to large multinational businesses in Silicon Valley, according to Lazaro.
“While a lot of businesses are sympathetic to the fact that this is a humanitarian crisis that we are seeing not just in Fremont, but in many other cities throughout our region, they are also, quite frankly, very fed up,” Lazaro said.
Opponents of the ordinance said in the public comments that the ban is not the solution to the homelessness crisis.
“Pass this ordinance and you’ll waste money to move people around, maybe over to Newark, until we push them back your way,” Theresa Ballard, resident and former planning commissioner of the adjacent city of Newark, said during the public comments session. “New encampments will be appearing again, and within a few months, all your constituents here will then understand how pointless this exercise was.”
Fremont resident Michelle Lin Chung expressed support, saying: “I have felt unsafe and experienced dangerous situations while going to my grocery store and local ATM. I have also seen burn marks on the walls at the campsites. Thankfully, those did not cause any disaster.”
Community organization Compassionate Fremont wrote in a Jan. 13 Facebook post, “To create this ban, to criminalize an already vulnerable population is not the best we are nor the best we can be as a community.”
After the ordinance was introduced on Dec. 17, 2024, concerns were raised that the clause about aiding and abetting would prevent people from giving food, water, blankets, or other assistance to homeless people. Some nonprofits have raised the concern that they will be afraid to do outreach with these individuals.
City Attorney Rafael E. Alvarado Jr. said in the meeting, “The ordinance does not make it a violation of the municipal code to provide someone food or clothing or other amenities.”
Alvarado also said the ordinance offers the same enforcement authority with or without that clause.
The camping ban was drafted following a Supreme Court ruling that overturned Johnson v. Grants Pass. According to that ruling, enforcement of laws against public camping does not count as cruel and unusual punishment.
