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RiversideCA.gov
City Council MeetingAugust 2, 2022Wildlife Urban Interface Report and Title 9 Ordinance AmendmentRiverside Fire DepartmentCity Attorney’s OfficeOffice of Homeless Solutions RiversideCA.gov2
LEGAL FRAMEWORK1
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Laws that criminalize the act of sleeping or pitching tents or other structures on publicly owned property.
ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES
RiversideCA.gov4
RMC 9.04.600(A) Unless otherwise permitted by law or permit, it is unlawful for any person to camp, use camp facilities, or use camp paraphernalia in or on any public park, street, sidewalk, or other public property. ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES3 4 7/21/2022
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Jones v. Los Angeles (2016)1. Invalidated a city ordinance that prohibited sitting, lying, or sleeping on a “street, sidewalk or other public way.” 2. Violation of 8thAmendment.3. People experiencing homelessness exceeded the number of available shelter beds.ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES
ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES
RiversideCA.gov6
Martin v. City of Boise(2018)A city may not enforce its ordinances that prohibit camping when there is no available temporary shelter for persons experiencing homelessness in the city. ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES5
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Martin v. City of Boise(2018)Reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions“Even where shelter is unavailable, an ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping outside at particular times or in particular locations might well be constitutionally permissible.” ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCESANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES RiversideCA.gov8
Martin v. City of Boise(2018)“[Cities] are not required to allow persons to sit, lie, or sleep on public property at any time and any place.” ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCESANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES7 8 7/21/2022
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Blake v. City of Grants Pass(2020) [Federal District Court in Oregon]“The City may implement time and place restrictions for when homeless individuals may use their belongings to keep warm and dry and when they must have their belongings packed up. The City may also implement an anti-camping ordinance that is more specific than the one in place now. For example, the City may ban the use of tents in public parks without going so far as to ban people from using any bedding type materials to keep warm and dry while they sleep. The City may also consider limiting the amount of bedding type materials allowed per individual in public places.”ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCESANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES RiversideCA.gov10
Warren v. City of Chico(2021)•A city constructed an “outdoor temporary shelter facility” at the municipal airport with the capacity to house all its residents' experiencing homelessness.•Asphalt tarmac without a roof, walls, water or electricity.•City could not enforce its camping ordinance because it had 120 available shelter beds but over 500 homeless residents. ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES ANTI-CAMPING ORDINANCES9
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City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:in a manner that impedes passage, as provided by the ADA.REASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov12
City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:within ten feet of any operational or utilizable driveway or loading dockREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS11 12 7/21/2022
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City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:within five feet of any operational or utilizable building entrance or exitREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov14
City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:within two feet of any fire hydrant, fire plug, or other fire department connectionREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS13 14 7/21/2022
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City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:within the public right-of-way in a manner that obstructs or unreasonably interferes with the use of the right-of-way for any activity for which the City has issued a permitREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov16
City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:Property designated as a “sensitive use” - School, Day Care Center, Public Park, or Public LibraryREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS15 16 7/21/2022
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City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:Designated overpass, underpass, freeway ramp, tunnel, bridge, pedestrian bridge, subway, wash, spreading ground, or active railway where Resolution declares public health, safety, or welfare is served by the prohibitionREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov18
City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:Designated shelters for persons experiencing homelessnessREASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS17 18 7/21/2022
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City of Los AngelesPrevents obstruction by sitting, lying, or sleeping, or by storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property:Area of particular and ongoing threat to public health or safety(may include hazardous condition, repeated crime, occurrences of fires)REASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov20
City of ArcadiaCamping is limited to the hours of 10:00pm to 7:00am, public right-of-way can not be blocked, and certain areas like park playgrounds, picnic areas, public facilities, and commercial districts are prohibited areas at all times.REASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS19 20 7/21/2022
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City of Fountain ValleyFountain Valley repealed its anti-camping ordinance but banned the overnight storage of personal belongings in parks. Designed as “a substantial and legitimate government interest in limiting wear and tear on public park properties in order to further the goal of conserving park property and ... to keep public parks in an intact and attractive condition.” REASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS RiversideCA.gov22
County of Kern•obstruct vehicular traffic or pedestrian access. •within 500 feet of a fence, entrance, or exit of a public or private K-12 school.•entrance or exit of a public library or facility that provides housing shelter, supportive services, or storage to homeless persons.•adjacent to residentially zoned property (unless with owner’s consent)REASONABLE TIME, PLACE AND MANNER RESTRICTIONS21 22 7/21/2022
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SERVICES
RiversideCA.gov24
ACCESS CENTER
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POL Community Shelter Program provides emergency shelter to serve adults by providing an immediate exit off the street into temporary housing along with assistance in obtaining important documents, becoming job ready, counseling, and various other forms of social, spiritual, and emotional support.•Shelter Bed Breakdown –Community Shelter: 36 Female and 54 Male beds (90 total beds)–Family Shelter: 46 beds–Duration of Stay: 60-90 Day Stay*The City has 35 designated beds (utilized by City staff, CityNet and RPD)PATH OF LIFE MINISTRIES (POL) RiversideCA.gov26
Illumination Foundation – is a recuperative care shelter that accepts individuals who were recently discharged from the hospital and need support to recover from their stay. Often times individuals are well enough to be discharged from a hospital but not well enough to return to regular activity and certainly not well enough to return to living on the street. IF provides a space for individuals to heal. •Shelter Bed Breakdown –Community Shelter: 50 Beds Total–Duration of Stay: 90 Day StayILLUMINATION FOUNDATION 25 26
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Helping Hearts specializes in mental health treatment for those unable to care for themselves in an independent living situation. The program includes a high level of care - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a home-like setting that is an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization or institutional care.•Shelter Bed Breakdown –Community Shelter: 28 Total Beds–Duration of Stay: 90 Day StayHELPING HEARTS RiversideCA.gov28
We are excited to have Mercy House join the Hulen Campus. They will offer transitional/bridge housing services. Individuals who are referred will already have a housing plan and awaiting a move in date or approval for section 8, TBRA, or other housing option.•Shelter Bed Breakdown –Community Shelter: 23 Total Beds–Duration of Stay: 90+ Day StayMERCY HOUSE 27 28
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The Place offers outreach and engagement programs for chronically homeless adults who, due to a serious mental health disorder, have rejected housing and resisted support. These programs provide a drop-in center that operates 24 hours a day and on-site low demand permanent supportive housing for 25 adults. The drop-in centers use peer-to-peer outreach and engagement to engage guests in accepting housing to access meals, showers, laundry, and linkage to a wide range of community resources. The Place are operated by Recovery Innovations of California, Inc. under contract with the Department of Mental Health.•Shelter Bed Breakdown –Community Shelter: 25 beds–Duration of Stay: Not providedTHE PLACE RiversideCA.gov30
“HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) permits Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) to create flexible programs that provide assistance to individual households to help them afford the housing costs of market-rate units. These programs are known as "Tenant-Based Rental Assistance," or TBRA.”HOME Tenant-Based Rental Assistance - HUD ExchangeTENANT BASED RENTAL ASSISTANCE (TBRA)29 30 7/21/2022
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“The Emergency Rental Assistance program makes available $25 billion to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds are provided directly to States, U.S. Territories, local governments, and Indian tribes.”Emergency Rental Assistance Program | U.S. Department of the TreasuryEMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE RiversideCA.gov32
WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE FIRE RISKS31
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Wildland : An Area in which development is essentially nonexistent, except for roads, railroads, powerlines and similar transportation facilities.Wildfire Risk: The likelihood of a fire occurring, the associated fire behavior and impacts of the fire. DefinitionsDEFINITIONS RiversideCA.gov34
A growing number have taken refuge in the Santa Ana River bottom or more remote canyon areas. As more people, both housed and unsheltered, live within high fire zones, the risk of fires starting and causing harm and loss of life has also increased.Risks RISKS33
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Unsheltered individuals are often reliant on fires for everyday survival activities, including cooking food and keeping warm, but these activities also increase the risk of nearby brush catching fire and rapidly spreading. Such individuals living in high-fire zones may miss emergency notifications and may experience challenges in safely evacuating.Risks RISKS
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BASE MAP OF CITY OF RIVERSIDE35
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Wildland Urban Interface: The area where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with natural wildland vegetation
WILDLIFE URBAN INTERFACE (WUI)
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FEMA FLOOD HAZARD AREAS37
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FEMA Flood Hazard Areas
FEMA FLOOD HAZARD AREAS
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FIRE HISTORY WITHIN THE WUI39
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Encampments within the WUI
ENCAMPMENTS WITHIN THE WUI
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Incident #22-0012320April 11, 2022Dispatch Time 10:38pmMartha McClain Park5759 Jurupa “4 Alarm Fire In Elaborate Homeless Encampment - Riverside, California 04.11.22.” YouTube, uploaded by LLN Mike, April 12, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGE5nMbNYz8. 41 42
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ENCAMPMENTS, FIRES, FLOOD RISK WITHIN THE WUI
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The proposed ordinance prohibits camping in designated areas within the City that are determined to be hazardous. (Wildland Urban Interface & FEMA Flood Areas). Within those areas, the Fire History and encampment locations will be the causation factors used for enforcement.The proposed methodology found the concentration of high fire danger to include (1) the Santa Ana Riverbottom, (2) Hole Lake, and (3) Sycamore Canyon.
PROPOSED ORDINANCE AND METHODOLOGY43
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MUNICIPAL CODE PROVISIONS
RiversideCA.gov46
6.32.230 - Prohibited Open BurningOpen burning shall be prohibited when atmospheric conditions or local circumstances make such fires hazardous.16.32.250 - Location.The location for open burning shall be not less than 50 feet from any structure, and provisions shall be made to prevent the fire from spreading to within 50 feet of ay structure.
RIVERSIDE MUNICIPAL CODES45
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16.32.255 - Bonfires.A bonfire shall not be conducted within 50 feet of a structure or combustible material unless the fire is contained in a barbecue pit. Conditions that could cause a fire to spread within 50 feet of a structure shall be eliminated prior to ignition.16.32.272 - Open-flame Cooking Devices.Charcoal burners and other open-flame cooking devices shall not be operated on combustible balconies or within 10 feet of combustible construction.Riverside Municipal Codes Relating to Fires
RIVERSIDE MUNICIPAL CODES
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HOME COURT47
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An alternative sentencing program for persons facing criminal prosecution for low-level crimes and experiencing homelessness. Officially Launched in early July.
HOMELESS OUTREACH, MEDIATION, AND EDUCATION
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• Riverside County Superior Court• Riverside County Behavioral Health Services• District Attorney• Public Defender, Conflict Panel, and other defense attorneys• Probation Department• Sheriff’s Department • City of RiversideCity Manager’s OfficeCity Attorney’s OfficePolice DepartmentOffice of Homeless SolutionsPARTNERS PARTNERS49
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Homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless• Fleeing Domestic Violence or Human Trafficking also eligibleCharged with a non-violent misdemeanor• Crimes involving violence or sex may be consideredAfter evaluations by court, attorneys, and RivCo Behavioral Health, deemed suitable for this program• Post-plea diversion• May be referred to other diversion or alternative sentencing courtsQUALIFICATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS
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Some available services and treatment:• Housing, outpatient or in-patient treatment, medicationmanagement, substance abuse treatment, life skills classes, parenting classes, peer supportUpon completion:• Cases will be expunged and/or dismissed• Early termination of probation• Fine and fees dismissed or reducedPROGRAM PROGRAM51
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On June 15, 2022, the Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee voted to recommend that the City Council approve and adopt an ordinance to regulate homeless encampments in high fire areas in the City of Riverside.COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION53