San Clemente officials are cracking down on homeless encampments in the city after a landmark Supreme Court ruling gave cities more power to enforce anti-camping laws.
The city council unanimously approved an update to the city’s anti-camping law that prevents people from sleeping on public streets and parks.
It’s one of the first Orange County cities rolling out the change after the ruling and subsequent calls from Gov. Gavin Newsom to start cracking down on encampments.
Supreme Court Justices’ ruling in the Grants Pass v. Johnson case earlier this summer reversed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal ruling in Martin v. Boise, which mandated that cities must provide adequate shelter beds before they can push homeless people off the streets.
Now cities no longer need to have shelter space available to cite someone for sleeping in public.
After the ruling, Newsom issued an executive order calling on state agencies to adopt clear policies that urgently address homeless encampments.
San Clemente City Attorney Matthew Silver emphasized that the update was mainly to align the city code with the Supreme Court ruling.
“The city certainly can, and I very much believe will, continue to offer services and shelter, but it will no longer be a prerequisite to enforcement,” Silver said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
He said the city wasn’t necessarily required to update the law, but it gives the city more tools to address homelessness.
“Nothing prohibits us continuing to offer [shelter], it just will not be a legal obstacle to enforcement,” Silver said.
Last year, council members debated extending tent restrictions to city beaches, effectively blocking homeless people from taking shelter in these areas.
[Read: San Clemente Considers Curbing Homeless From Beaches]
The council also previously discussed hiring private security to push homeless people off the beach and help ensure homeless residents didn’t camp out there.
But the city council ultimately voted to delay hiring any private security in a narrow 3-2 vote last year.
[Read: San Clemente Holds Off on Private Security to Clear Out Homeless People, For Now]
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Mayor Victor Cabral said the city has found a balance between offering homeless people services and enforcing anti-camping laws.
“Nobody wants to persecute these people,” Cabral said. “Everybody’s trying to help them, including the City of San Clemente. But there are limits to what we can do as a city, and the state and county have to live up to their responsibilities too.”
Councilmember Mark Enmeier said the restrictions from Martin v. Boise forced cities to change the way they approach homeless people and gave the city some useful tools they can still use.
“The pendulum also swung too far,” Enmeier said. “It limited us on other tools that we need. My hope is that, with Grants Pass, we get those other tools back in our toolbox but we don’t dismiss the new ones.”
“We are still going to positively address our homeless situation in our town as much as we can to give them the resources that they need, to give them the shelter that they need, to give them the mental health that they need, and as a last resort, then use the enforcement tool that we need,” he said.
Other Orange County cities are also taking steps to update their anti-camping laws and clear out homelessness encampments.
Aliso Viejo officials were some of the first in the county to update their law and remove the shelter bed requirement that was eliminated in the Grants Pass ruling.
Officials in Garden Grove recently directed their city attorney to come back with an ordinance prohibiting camping on public property.
And in Santa Ana, Mayor Valerie Amezcua said last month it was time for the city to enforce anti-camping laws and crack down on public intoxication.
[Read: Is Orange County About To Enforce Anti-Camping Laws Again?]
San Clemente’s changes were approved on first reading and will return to the council for a second vote before it can go into effect. The council meets next on Sept. 3 at 5 p.m.
City Attorney Silver emphasized he’s not interested in throwing the city’s homeless people in jail, even if they end up in court for camping in public.
“There’s a concept that enforcement is strictly going to jail, and that’s not a long-term solution,” Silver said. “I’m in the business of trying to get long-term solutions for the city here. I’m not interested in convictions, I’m interested in solutions.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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