Fremont City Council Meeting: 09/17/24 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: City Manager's Office
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Presentations
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5270) DOC ID: 5270
Updated: 9/13/2024 12:26 PM by Dina Lewis Page 1
HOMELESSNESS REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE U.S. SUPREME COURT’S GRANTS PASS DECISION
Contact Persons:
Name: Allen DeMers Sean Washington
Title: Deputy City Manager Police Chief
Div/Dept: City Manager's Office Police Department
Phone: 510-494-4651 510-790-6969
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: City of Fremont staff have adjusted some encampment management and intervention activities as greater flexibility to disperse homeless encampments has been granted in association with the recently decided City of Grants Pass U.S. Supreme Court case. City staff continue to rely on encampment management guidelines to prioritize current enforcement activity. Additional parking and encampment regulations under review are summarized in this memo and will be presented for City Council consideration at a later date.
BACKGROUND: Mayor Mei and the City Council have expressed a desire for an update on changes to the City’s encampment regulation and enforcement actions in light of the June 28, 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the City of Grants Pass case that centered around a local jurisdiction’s ability to enforce a ban on public camping when sufficient shelter for unhoused individuals is not available. The ruling reversed a Ninth Circuit decision that prohibited local restrictions on public camping as unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, unless the person was provided access to adequate temporary shelter. Staff interprets this latest ruling to allow local jurisdictions greater latitude to enforce anti-camping rules even when alternative shelter is not offered to the unhoused individual.
For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated quarantine periods, the City of Fremont generally did not attempt to disperse or remove encampments unless adequate alternative shelter was available, or the conditions of a vehicle or camp posed a greater health and safety concern than the resulting exposure to communicable illnesses created.
Since the expiration of the Alameda County COVID-19 Health Order in February 2023, the City has increased enforcement of existing camping ordinances and parking restrictions, which lead to multiple site closures and abatements including those located at Kato Rd, Central Park, Niles Community Park, Vallejo Mill Historical Park, Bay St, Research Ave, north Christy St, Irvington Community Park and Irvington Ave & Chapel Way. The City relies on Encampment Condition Guidelines to assess how to best allocate limited enforcement and maintenance resources. Law enforcement staff responds to concerns regarding criminal behavior by all residents of the City, separate and distinct from the condition of not possessing shelter. The condition of being unhoused, in and of itself, was not and is not a crime.
On April 2, 2024, the City staff presented to City Council options and costs of implementing parking restrictions of large vehicles near schools and in parks. This meeting resulted in the Council Staff Report (ID # 5270) Meeting of September 17, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 12:26 PM by Dina Lewis Page 2
prioritization of parking enforcement areas near schools where Safe Routes to Schools have been established. Staff has also updated its existing Encampment Condition Guidelines to include proximity to schools as a priority factor for enforcement.
On May 21, 2024, the Fremont City Council adopted the City’s first Homelessness Response Plan (HRP) which guides the development of policies, investments, and actions over the next five years to address homelessness in Fremont. The plan focuses on prevention and addressing the root causes of homelessness, while acknowledging that enforcement, in and of itself, does not resolve homelessness. Mitigation strategies in the HRP included a commitment to refining encampment response, inclusive of additional regulation.
On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued their ruling in overturning the lower court’s decision in Johnson v. Grant’s Pass.
On July 25, 2024, the State of California’s Governor issued an Executive Order to State agencies regarding encampment removal that, while not directive or binding to local agencies, provides further guidance and models for assessing where and when encampment intervention should be prioritized and implemented. The executive order’s guidance is extremely high level, but generally encourages a high level of intervention across the State of California in high priority areas.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: As outlined in the City of Fremont’s Homeless Response Plan enforcement alone is not a cost-effective strategy nor a means to resolve or reduce the overall number of homeless individuals in the City of Fremont. However, the Grants Pass decision allows the City additional latitude and reduces liability associated with more actively regulating and dispersing encampments. Such regulation is still governed by laws and protections, including those governing tagging and storage of removed property. It is noted that dispersing encampments without alternative shelter will resolve immediate concerns but may not achieve long-term goals to reduce homelessness.
Staff have been modifying practices and studying additional responses to better meet the Council’s and Community’s interest in enhanced enforcement, especially in certain areas and situations in which localized intervention is necessary. The City’s Encampment Conditions Guidelines were modified in August 2024 after the Grants Pass decision. The amended guidelines enhance focus on encampment regulation near schools and facilities frequented by young people.
As currently written, the City’s encampment management guidelines identify the following encampment conditions as the highest priority issues requiring intervention, regulation, or enforcement by City staff:
• Dumping of materials or liquids into waterways, storm drains, gutters, sidewalks, streets, and other public areas;
• Unsanctioned electrical or water taps;
• Trespassing, loitering, or dumping on adjacent private properties; • Parking along streets or within parking lots with posted restrictions; • Lodging or camping on public property, including City parks, with posted restrictions; • Lodging or camping near schools, daycare facilities, and/or streets designated as safe routes to school;
• Entering or staying in abandoned or vacant buildings; Council Staff Report (ID # 5270) Meeting of September 17, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 12:26 PM by Dina Lewis Page 3
• Engaging in activities that pose a health or safety risk, such as unsanitary conditions or unsafe cooking practices in public spaces;
• Non-operable or immobile vehicles and structures on City streets; unregistered or expired vehicles;
• Destruction of property—modifying or vandalizing public spaces and infrastructure (e.g., graffiti, digging);
• Criminal activity including, but not limited to, theft, threats, acts of violence, and drug solicitation; and
• Other behaviors, including aggressive animals and individuals, preventing the City from completing work.
Activity and Intervention Since the Grants Pass Decision
Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision and Governor’s Executive Order affirmed local government’s ability to enforce laws and ordinances pertaining to camping, there has not been an increase in resources or funding to expand the capacity of cities to implement enforcement. The City of Fremont, and Alameda County as a whole, maintain a shortfall in the shelter and housing inventory, so that when enforcement actions or encampment abatements occur there is frequently not a legitimate place to which unhoused residents may relocate.
Without amending local rules, City staff continue to intervene weekly at encampment locations. Interventions include debris cleaning, vehicle towing, or abatement of property.
Since the June Grants Pass U.S. Supreme Court decision, the City has assessed 91 sites for outreach and triage of the following interventions:
• 230 site clean-ups
• 31 vehicle tows
• 9 enhanced property abatements or full site closures (Stewart Ave, Central Park, Bay St., Washington Underpass, Auto Mall Underpass, Niles Community Park, City Hall Parking lot, Paseo Padre & Walnut, Solar Way)
• 5 signage updates or replacements on City streets and within parks to facilitate compliance and additional necessary enforcement
Additional Regulatory Actions Under Consideration
Some elements of enhanced enforcement would require explicit City Council action to amend the City’s local municipal code. The following code revisions are options that the City Council may wish to consider. These options are intended first and foremost to secure compliance when regulation of an encampment is necessary and to resolve unsafe and unhealthy community conditions. The regulations are not intended to criminalize the condition of being homeless in and of itself.
The code provisions that the City Council will be presented with will offer the City Council with the option to amend regulation of the following City of Fremont Ordinances:
• Enhancing the City’s Enforcement of 72 Hour Restriction on Street Parking:
City staff are in the process of drafting municipal code revisions which clarify the City’s existing rules and make enforcement more effective in dispersing vehicles from the area when a violation occurs. Features of the policy will include:
Council Staff Report (ID # 5270) Meeting of September 17, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 12:26 PM by Dina Lewis Page 4
o Specifying the distance a vehicle must move to obtain compliance the code; and
o Specifying a no-return period mandating that vehicles move and do not return to the same location for a set duration.
• No Parking of Oversized Vehicles on Residential Streets: City staff are in the process of drafting a municipal code revision which clarifies the prohibition of all oversized vehicles (such as recreation vehicles) from parking on residential streets. o Exceptions to this rule would include a specific time period for the prepping and loading and unloading of the RV by the adjacent property owner and for oversized commercial vehicles that are providing services to the adjacent property owner, such as construction vehicles or delivery vehicles. o Prior to issuance of a citation, the person responsible for the violation must be given written notice of the parking violation.
• Citywide Camping Ban on Public Property: City staff are in the process of researching and drafting municipal code revision which will:
o Prohibit camping and storage of personal property on public land, including any street, sidewalk, park, open space, waterway, or banks of a waterway. o Create explicit enforcement authority for abatement of personal property left on public property for 24 hours.
o Authorize the City Council to adopt abatement procedures by resolution. o As with other FMC violations, administrative enforcement pursuant to Chapter
1.20 and nuisance abatement pursuant to Chapter 8.60 would apply to violations of the camping ordinance.
Barriers and Unintended Consequences to Code Revisions Under Consideration
The City’s municipal code can be amended to create new rules and new regulatory authority for City staff without direct expense. Active enforcement of those new standards will be staffing and resource dependent and enforcement will still need to be allocated to the most urgent and necessary situations in a replicable and equitable manner across the City of Fremont. Displacing homeless individuals, without alternative shelter, for the sole violation of camping in the City of Fremont, will add additional barriers to connect with and maintain health and housing services. Multiple areas within Fremont are considered “highly returnable sites” in that once an area is cleaned or cleared, there is not a reasonable mechanism to prevent camping or parking and will require additional infrastructural changes or more monitoring resources.
Staff advises that regulatory and law enforcement measure be viewed as focused, immediate interventions to address specific community concerns, while acknowledging that more sustainable reductions in overall homelessness will continue to require concerted work with the already adopted Homeless Response Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact. This is an informational item only.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: None.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5270) Meeting of September 17, 2024 Updated: 9/13/2024 12:26 PM by Dina Lewis Page 5
RECOMMENDATION: Receive this informational update.