Press Release RE: Fremont, California criminal “aiding” and “abetting” camping ordinance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Abode Services, Bay Area Community Services, and Fremont for Everyone Urge Fremont City Council to Reject Plan to Ban Encampments and Criminalize Homelessness

Leaders of local nonprofits and community groups together urge Fremont leaders to reject the proposed ban on camping and storage of personal property on public land, criminalizing poverty and allowing authorities to sweep encampments of people experiencing homelessness.

FREMONT – Local nonprofit groups that partner with Fremont to end homelessness are strongly urging the Fremont City Council to reject the proposed ban on encampments which as written would criminalize homelessness, increase public costs of enforcement, and do nothing to offer real solutions to the issue.

Abode Services and Bay Area Community Services (BACS), which provide services and resources in Fremont as part of our collective mission to end homelessness, have joined the community group, Fremont for Everyone, to condemn the city’s policy change. The organizations obviously agree that having people live outside, unsheltered from the elements, is far from ideal; indeed, they work diligently to solve that problem.

However, empowering police to fine or even arrest people just for experiencing homelessness is foolhardy and cruel, and sweeping encampments without offering folks another place to go is a policy destined to fail. It is wholly ineffective and a terrible use of our civic resources, which will not benefit home and business owners.

In addition, the city has failed to attempt any collaboration with experts and their own providers of outreach, shelter, and housing services in the community before proposing the ban. Abode, BACS, and Fremont for Everyone are here to help solve the problem, collaborate, and support Fremont’s housed and unhoused communities with dignity.

“Garbage and debris get swept; in a truly civilized society, human beings are not,” said Vivian Wan, CEO of Abode Services. “In a just society that reflects the best values of Fremont and the Bay Area, human beings are treated with compassion and we partner to solve community challenges. We don’t blame and further traumatize those most impacted by the housing affordability crisis. The solution to homelessness is a home coupled with services, combined with humanity and empathy – not cruelty.”

What is most disheartening is that the proposal does not address the core problem.

Fremont has had a 21-percent decline in homelessness since 2022 – a more successful rate than neighboring Bay Area communities. That positive result stems in part from BACS’ erecting the Fremont Navigation Center and expanding services at the Fremont Wellness and Housing Center, as well as Abode expanding more housing and services at new Fremont affordable housing sites such as Doug Ford Senior Apartments and City Center Apartments. But rather than celebrating its improvement by building on those sustainable, ongoing solutions, Fremont’s City Council instead has inched closer to approving an ordinance that would merely punish people for their poverty.

We can do better.

“Since data shows we can solve homelessness effectively without such an inhumane measure, we are deeply concerned that the city is choosing to move backwards instead of forward,” said Jamie Almanza, CEO of Bay Area Community Services. “This proposal solves nothing – it seeks to make the problem invisible instead of better. We are sacrificing true progress of the evidence-based models such as street

outreach, Keep People Housed℠, targeted interim housing, permanent housing, and permanent supportive housing for the appearance of progress at a higher cost.”

The City of Fremont supports about 110 year-round shelter beds, but has six times more people experiencing homelessness as there are beds to accommodate them. More enforcement will just move people around, creating community costs for both those experiencing homelessness and the neighborhoods of Fremont. Resources would be better spent deploying real solutions and partnering with providers to truly end homelessness.

Our stance on the issue of sweeping encampments is clear:

• Homelessness is not a crime; it is a crisis – one that is a result of systemic failures that have produced fewer than 24 affordable units for every 100 people who need them.
• In the Bay Area, some would have to earn as much as $78 per hour to afford a modest, two- bedroom apartment. (For low-wage workers, that would mean working up to five full-time minimum-wage jobs.)
• Criminalizing homelessness is wrong. It is cruel, ineffective, and costly.

• It also worsens cycles of homelessness and makes it more difficult to find real solutions.
• Data shows that the number one cause of homelessness (besides poverty) is whether someone has been homeless before.

“Fremont For Everyone has supported the city’s Housing Navigation Center, participated in strengthening the newly certified housing element that provides more affordable housing, and applauded Fremont’s adoption just months ago of the Homelessness Response Plan,” said David Bonaccorsi, member of Fremont for Everyone and a former city council member. “Fremont can do better and, for these reasons, Fremont is already doing better.”

A number of mayors and city councils nationwide have supported a more compassionate, humane approach, displaying genuine leadership and social courage to – in the words of one East Coast mayor – “protect those that really need our protection and support.”

We are calling for Fremont’s mayor and council members to do the same: to reject the ineffective citywide camping ban on public property, and instead work with BACS, Abode, and other agencies to maintain the progress made without this policy – to reduce homelessness without increasing the public cost and personal harm of policing people who have no other choice.

We urge Fremont to do the right thing – which would yield the most effective results toward truly ending homelessness in this community.

About Abode

Established in 1989, Abode’s mission is to end homelessness. Abode’s family of agencies now include Abode Services, Abode Property Management, and Abode Housing Development. Those entities work together in Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Napa, and Solano counties, combining housing and services to assist homeless families and individuals in establishing stability and independence. Abode has provided homes to 12,934 adults and children since 2020. Last year, Abode assisted 16,758 people and ensured that on any given night 8,652 people slept in a home rather than on the street. To learn more, visit www.abode.org.

About Bay Area Community Services

Bay Area Community Services (BACS) breaks the behavioral health, housing, and community barriers that hold

people back. BACS’ mission is to uplift individuals, families, and communities by doing “whatever it takes.” BACS helps people experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, or behavioral health challenges, while balancing other complications like health needs, substance use, generational trauma, incarceration, poverty, and more. Since its founding in 1953, BACS has steadily grown throughout Northern and Central California, integrating more than seven decades of behavioral health expertise with our Housing First philosophy to meet the rising needs of communities. To learn more, go to www.bayareacs.org.

About Fremont for Everyone

Fremont for Everyone advocates for inclusive, affordable housing for our residents, and ensures Fremont

is welcoming of new neighbors, while remaining a wonderful community for living closer to work, raising a family, and aging in place – a home for everyone. To learn more, visit www.fremontforeveryone.com