Fresno City Council wants to crack down on trespassers, squatters 

The Fresno City Council unanimously passed an ordinance granting private property owners more options for getting rid of trespassers. 

Fresno’s trespassing ordinance was sponsored by Council Vice President Mike Karbassi and Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Tyler Maxwell. Bredefeld said the ordinance was necessary to give local business owners tools to fight back against the “mayhem” caused by trespassers.

“It’s our job and responsibility as elected officials of the city of Fresno to ensure our community is vibrant, healthy, safe,” Bredefeld said. “It’s also our job to ensure that the rights of private property owners who do business with the public are respected and protected; this ordinance will assist us in meeting those responsibilities.”

The policy, which the council called a “common sense” measure, comes after the city passed its anti-encampment ordinance — which bans people from building encampments and sleeping in public spaces. Fresno’s trespassing ordinance covers private property that is open to the public.

“Being homeless is absolutely not a crime, but there are certain behaviors that are unacceptable,” Karbassi said. “No small business in the city should have to be able to experience people defecating on their premises. No small business or mom-and-pop shop in this city should have a situation where somebody can come in and create a hazard and fear for their workers that work there.

“We’re not criminalizing anyone for being homeless,” Karbassi later added. “But we are holding people accountable if they exhibit behaviors that threaten the liberty and economic opportunity of other innocent residents.”

Penalties for violating the ordinance could include a criminal misdemeanor charge, up to $1,000 in fines and a maximum one-year jail sentence. City Attorney Andrew Janz confirmed that the prosecution of these cases will be led by the city attorney’s office. 

Some councilmembers also said their support for the ordinance stems from calls from local business owners who they said feel helpless from solving their trespasser issues —  creating what they believe is a health and safety hazard. 

“They rely on doing well at their business to pay their employees, to feed their families,” said Maxwell. “The money they generate helps us with our tax revenue. We use that tax revenue to hire more police officers, maintain our parks, maintain our roads…and so when their businesses get disrupted, it has a detrimental effect, not just to the immediate business, but to their families, and honestly to the whole community.”

Calls to clear trespassers from private property can be made from property owners and “authorized agents,” according to the ordinance. Maxwell said during the meeting that this could include a property lessee and business owners. 

Maxwell also said that the notice for trespassers to leave the property would be discretionary to the police officers. Police will have the option to pursue a clearance that does not involve immediate arrest or citation, if possible.

Fresno’s trespassing ordinance, as written, provides relief for private property owners during business hours. Maxwell and Janz said implementing a policy that can take place after hours is a different challenge.

“Having this applied to non-business hours was a whole other beast,” Maxwell said. 

“I imagine business owners are still going to have an issue if this passes with those same types of problems occurring after business hours,” Maxwell said. “That might have to be something we look at down the road.”

Still, Maxwell said he felt the ordinance was ready to be put up for a vote to give business owners some immediate relief. 

Karbassi said that the ordinance will also help business owners by not having their only remedy be to file an insurance claim, which could increase their premium. Councilmember Luis Chavez added that he has heard business owners tell him that they already practice refusing to submit insurance claims. 

“We’ve done some surveys along our corridor and that’s what folks identified, they really had kind of given up on even reporting it,” Chavez said. “So we know that a lot of incidents and problems go under reported.”

The ordinance passed Thursday, though the meeting was only an introduction for the ordinance. It is expected to go through a final passage during the next council meeting on Set. 12, where it will go into effect 31 days after that.

Support against squatters available for short-term rentals, hotels

The Fresno City Council also passed an ordinance creating a new process providing property owners powers to remove squatters after they refuse to leave the property.

The ordinance passed through the consent agenda on Thursday. It aims to assist short-term residential rentals or hotel owners. The short-term rentals included are those who house guests for 30 days or less. 

“The intent of this ordinance is to quickly restore possession of the property to the lawful owner…while limiting the opportunity for criminal activity,” reads the ordinance sponsored by councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Nelson Esparza.  

Property owners will be able to fill out a form to the Fresno Police Department. Once verified by Fresno PD, they will contact the guest to vacate the property. 

Ordinance violators could face a criminal misdemeanor charge, and up to $1,000 in fines. 

The policy is expected to take effect on Sept. 29, 31 days from Thursday’s passage.