Fremont, California Just Made Helping The Homeless Illegal
Update: The bill passed and is now one of the strictest in the US
Fremont, California is a suburb situated on the southernmost edge of the East Bay. Over the last 30 years, Fremont has gone from a relatively average, working class town to an affluent Silicon Valley bedroom community with a population of over 230,000 people. As Fremont experienced rapid growth, it, like every other city in the Bay Area, began to face the realities of exorbitant housing costs and a growing unhoused population.
Homelessness is a divisive issue in the region, and every city has different strategies on how to best tackle it. While major cities like San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose have implemented vaguely progressive policies that emphasized housing, mental health and harm reduction services, Fremont is likely going to go in the other direction.
The Fremont City Council is set to vote on a measure that would effective make not only homelessness illegal, but the act of assisting the homeless with food, water or money illegal as well. The penalty for violating these ordinances, if passed, are $1,000 fines and up to six months in jail.
Can you imagine going to Santa Rita jail for trying to help a homeless person? For those of you who never leave San Francisco, Santa Rita is the Alameda County Jail. I can’t begin to picture the confusion on your cellmate’s face as you explained to him that the reason why you’re in jail is that you gave a homeless guy a sandwich in Fremont at a public park.
“What are you in for?” You ask.
“Fuckin’ pigs planted a gun on me to violate my parole so I’m back in this shithole. What about you?” Your cellmate replies.
“I saw a man sitting in a tent at Irvington Park in Fremont. We made eye contact and he asked for change, but I didn’t have any so I gave him the second half of my sandwich from Subway. Turns out it was a sting operation,” you plainly explain.
“What do you mean a sting operation?”
“I didn’t know this, but it’s illegal in Fremont to help homeless people on public property. So cops in Fremont are pretending to be homeless to catch criminals who are trying to help the homeless.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was, but when I went to hand the guy second half of my sub, he just slapped the cuffs on me and told me I was under arrest. I though he was crazy so I resisted, and out of nowhere 10 cops rushed me and tased me until I shit my pants.”
All jokes aside, this is a cruel law that is only going to hurt the unhoused community and the people who work incredibly hard to treat them like human beings. America is the richest country in the world. We have more than enough resources to provide housing and services to every single person who could ever begin to need them. Instead we hoard resources and treat compassion like it’s a crime. Fremont has a choice to make, let’s hope the City Council makes the right one, and if they don’t, vote them all the fuck out.
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Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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