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Fullerton is the latest Orange County city to bolster its anti-camping laws in an effort to crack down on homeless people sleeping in public places.
It comes after a Supreme Court ruling last summer overturned a previous precedent that mandated cities and counties needed to provide a certain amount of shelter beds before clearing out homeless camps.
[Read: Is Orange County About To Enforce Anti-Camping Laws Again?]
Since then, cities throughout the county have been crafting anti-camping laws.
On Tuesday, Fullerton City Council members narrowly voted 3-2 to adopt a pair of ordinances outright banning homeless camps and making way to start arresting those unlawfully sleeping on the streets and parks.
Mayor Fred Jung said that he supports the ordinance because public spaces in Fullerton ought to be protected and safe for everyone.
“At this point, enforcement has to be the next mechanism in order to make sure that those who require services get those services,” he said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Councilmembers Shana Charles and Ahmad Zahra were the dissenting votes for both ordinances.
Councilman Zahra – who criticized the ordinances for criminalizing homelessness and targeting an already disadvantaged community – said at the meeting that passing an ordinance against encampments doesn’t address the issues relating to homelessness.
“I think this is not practical, it won’t solve the problem and it just makes us look bad,” Zahra said.
One of the resolutions laid out what constitutes an obstruction or camp that is intrusive or leaves city streets to have “debilitating impact on the public health, safety or welfare.”
Charles said she worries about future interpretations of the ordinance.
“My concern is with what an ordinance this broad could lead to in the future. I feel like we haven’t nailed that down,” Charles said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Tuesday’s meeting comes after Orange County leaders saw an increase in their homeless population based on a county report over the past two years, dubbed the Point in Time Count.
[Read: Orange County Homeless Population Continues Growing]
In the report released last year, it showed that Fullerton had 434 homeless people, with 208 of those unhoused.
It marks an increase from 2022, in which the city had 272 homeless people – 202 of them unhoused.
Over the past five years, Fullerton has spent roughly $4.5 million to support 290 shelter beds for the homeless navigation centers operated by the North Orange County Service Provider Area, according to a city staff report released last month.
The city also spends over $780,000 on the Fullerton Navigation Center annually, which funds 40 emergency shelter beds and 110 recuperative care beds.
The city offers a motel voucher program funded by federal dollars, which city council members at the March 4 meeting expressed interest in extending.
[Read: Fullerton Considers Cracking Down on Homeless Camps]
Other Anti-Camping Laws in OC
Advocates for homeless people have long criticized the wave of recent crackdowns, arguing city officials are criminalizing people for sleeping in public – a move that will only make the homelessness crisis in the state worse.
In recent years, city leaders have been spending millions of taxpayer dollars to address the issue using different pathways: outreach services, street medicine, drug and mental health at local shelters, and in some cases job training.
[Read: Orange County Confronts Homelessness Ahead of Thanksgiving]
A host of cities bolstered their anti-camping laws following the Supreme Court’s decision, including Anaheim, Irvine, San Clemente, Newport Beach, Garden Grove and Aliso Viejo.
Earlier this year, Brea city officials amended their city codes to begin a crackdown on homeless camps.
Some officials, like in Stanton, last year declared homelessness a local emergency – but it’s unclear exactly what that will do.
It all comes as city leaders also grapple with a statewide housing crisis.
In turn, California is mandating cities build more affordable housing through beefing up their housing plans in a move that’s sparked a wave of criticism by local officials.
After the meeting, Jung said in a phone interview that elected officials in Sacramento and the county “have failed the general public miserably” on curbing homelessness and the state’s housing crisis.
He added that taxpayers have long been footing the bill for city services for homeless people, including adding more shelter beds, funding drug treatments and outreach programs for years – yet the city’s homeless population continues to rise.
Hugo Rios is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. Contact him at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.
Emily Wilson is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach her at egwilson33@gmail.com or on Twitter @ewilssson.
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