(CNN) — A California city voted to criminalize “aiding” and “abetting” homeless camps Tuesday — an unusual move that advocates say could stifle help for people who need it.
In addition to making it illegal to camp on public property, the policy that the Fremont City Council voted 6-1 to adopt also makes it a misdemeanor for residents to aid or abet encampments in a city with about 600 unhoused people. Those who violate the policy, which takes effect in 30 days, could be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
What’s unclear, however, is exactly what falls under the “aiding” and “abetting” umbrella, with experts saying it could criminalize any humanitarian aid to unhoused people —including by service providers, churches distributing food and street medicine teams.
“The language is broad and vague,” said Andrea Henson, executive director and legal counsel at Berkeley non-profit Where Do We Go. “It can apply to handing out sleeping bags or to social workers. It can also apply to all non-profits, legal organizations or churches that help the homeless with their survival on the streets. A person who lets a friend camp on their own private property can be cited or arrested.”
Outreach workers may have to make a choice between potentially keeping someone alive on a cold night by providing them with a tent, or staying out of legal trouble themselves, said Vivian Wan, CEO of Abode Services, a Fremont organization that assists unhoused people.
Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said the ordinance in the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area is a “common sense” protection for neighborhoods, and that encampments are a barrier to homeless people getting the help they need.
“The main question is how do we balance compassion with accountability,” Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Everybody should feel safe walking to your library, to your local park, to your public places.”
The new policy comes about seven months after the Supreme Court ruled that banning camping on public property does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” Since the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson decision, over 150 cities across the US have passed laws banning homeless people from sleeping in public places – even when there is no shelter or housing available, according to the National Homelessness Law Center. Of those cities, 45 are in California.
A month after the Grants Pass ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to sweep and remove homeless encampments. Cities and counties across the state followed suit, increasing sweeps of camps and instituting “anti-camping” ordinances.
But this is the first such ordinance that criminalizes “aiding” and “abetting” homeless people, experts say.
“While we can’t say for sure if the Fremont law resulted from the Grants Pass ruling, it applies the same backwards, ineffective and harmful approach inherent in these laws,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center. “None of these things will solve homelessness.”
City and state officials are uncertain how to respond to a surge in homelessness and encampments that have cropped up under bridges and in city parks across the nation. People who live in those encampments and advocacy groups, meanwhile, say they are alarmed by efforts to criminalize the population rather than build shelters and affordable housing.
California was the state with the highest number of people experiencing homelessness in 2024, with more than 187,000 people, according to estimates by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That’s more than double the national rate of 23 people experiencing homelessness per 10,000. Between 2023 and 2024, California’s homeless population grew by more than 5,600 people. In Alameda County, there were about 6,300 homeless individuals as of 2024.
Nationwide, more than 771,000 Americans experienced homelessness on any given night in January 2024 – the largest number since data collection began and an increase of 19% since 2007, according to the department.
The law could criminalize offering aid, experts say
Fremont’s ordinance prohibits “causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing” encampments “in or upon any public property,” including any street, sidewalk, park or waterway. It also makes it unlawful for anyone to store personal property on any public property.
“As written, the proposed law is patently unreasonable and will expose the City to legal liability,” a group of 20 organizations wrote in a letter to the city last week. “It does not specify what types of conduct qualify as ‘aiding,’ ‘permitting,’ or ‘abetting.’”
Fremont City Attorney Rafael Alvarado said the law would not apply to those providing food or clothing to homeless people.
“There would be no basis to pursue criminal enforcement of someone that hands someone else food or clothing under the terms of this ordinance,” Alvarado said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
John Do, a senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said that while ordinances like anti-camping and property restrictions have proliferated, this is the first that criminalizes aiding and abetting.
“This is the first with this specific language,” Rabinowitz told CNN.
Fremont officials, however, dispute that the ordinance is unique to the city.
“The general prohibition against aiding and abetting violations of municipal code ordinances is relatively common language shared by other California cities,” the city said in a documentabout the anti-camping law, adding that it “was not developed specifically for camping ordinance violations nor would it apply uniquely to such violations.”
CNN has reached out to the Fremont City Attorney’s Office and the mayor for comment.
Proponents of the law say it will help keep Fremont residents safe.
“Repeatedly dealing with some of these individuals can unnecessarily place firefighters and police officers in harms way,” the Fremont Police Association said before Tuesday’s vote. “The passage of this ordinance allows the public safety experts to appropriately address public safety issues while still [providing] resources to our unhoused community members.”
But the law’s application could be unconstitutional, having a “chilling effect” on those who may not want to risk punishment or who have prior offenses, Henson told CNN.
“Police will have broad discretion to enforce and this can cause a chilling effect on those who assist the unhoused due to fear of punishment,” she said.
Most organizations that provide homeless people with material support are non-profits run by volunteers and funded by private donations, Henson said. If they’re unable to provide that assistance because of the ordinance, unhoused people will only be isolated further and efforts to reduce homelessness will be stifled, she explained.
“This ordinance sends a strong message of how the City of Fremont is seeking to segregate the unhoused even further to isolate them from service providers and volunteers,” Henson said. “Individuals will be colder and more likely to suffer in unspeakable ways because local governments are taking away all the necessary tools for survival.”
Outreach workers worry about the policy’s wide reach
Even if outreach workers are not penalized for providing basic services and supplies like food, blankets and clothes, they are still concerned they could be cited, fined or even arrested if they provide tents, as they often do during cold and wet spells, said Wan, CEO of Abode Services.
Despite the city attorney’s assurances that outreach staff will not be impacted, Abode is seeking guidance from an attorney to help craft an agreement to propose to the city to ensure that its staff are not subject to this ordinance, Wan said. It would also clarify whether their clients’ information will remain confidential and whether supporting people with tents is allowed “as the language in the ordinance does seem extremely broad,” she said.
Restricting outreach could lead to worse health, housing and economic outcomes — while increasing costs to cities in policing and emergency services, Housing California Executive Director Chione Flegal said.
“The mere threat of penalties can deter individuals and organizations from providing essential aid, leaving more people without access to the support they need to survive,” Flegal said.
More cities could be empowered by Fremont’s ordinance to pursue similar policies, homelessness experts say.
“Cites are going for the quick fix, which is an illusion,” Henson said.
It’s part of a growing trend “of limiting advocates’ ability to support unhoused neighbors and monitor a city’s enforcement practices,” Do said. That includes an increasing number of jurisdictions prohibiting activities like panhandling or providing food to people, he said.
“Targeting people who offer aid to those in need does nothing to solve homelessness,” Do said.
Henson said her organization is prepared to file a lawsuit against the city if the law violates the rights of the unhoused or those who help them, she said.
“Right now, if you are unhoused your entire existence is illegal and in the City of Fremont you are also engaged in unlawful behavior if you seek to protect someone from the cold, feed them, help them with an accessible structure, or store their personal belongings,” she said.
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