Fresno homeless anti-camping law a ‘misguided waste’
Fresno City Councilman Steve Brandau’s pitch to Fresno residents and the council in favor of his Unhealthy and Hazardous Camping Act is sadly misguided and a waste of public funds.
Brandau’s reasons for making camping on public or private lands without permission a crime carrying a six-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine will add another valuable “tool” to police efforts to quell the scourge of homelessness. What the councilman fails to mention is the law is merely the most recent in a long line of punitive measures that have preceded an actual increase in the homeless population.
Thus far, we have criminalized aggressive panhandling, median-island solicitation, and shopping cart offenses. None have succeeded.
Rather than “choosing to be there” as Brandau alleges, the “crime situations” he seeks to change have been instigated by joblessness, a lack of affordable housing, and often mental health issues, which, if properly addressed with social programs, might really alter the landscape of homelessness.
Stephen D. Malm, Fresno
This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Fresno homeless anti-camping law a ‘misguided waste’."