Overview:
Unhoused advocates held demonstrations across the west coast to show solidarity toward local homeless residents
Unhoused advocates held demonstrations across the West Coast on Tuesday to share resources for homeless residents who are about to brave their first winter under the perpetual threat of arrest. They also called on local elected leaders to introduce “practical” solutions to homelessness and to repeal “broken” practices, like anti-encampment ordinances.
The demonstrations were held by local homeless advocates in Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vallejo. Fresno’s demonstration was led by Dez Martinez, founder of We Are Not Invisible, and held in front of Fresno City Hall.
“For years, I’ve been in the trenches, working tirelessly to bring dignity, respect and opportunity for those that are forced to live without shelter,” Martinez said. “It is an honorable fight, but let me tell you, it is not an easy one.”
The demonstration concluded with a march from City Hall to the county Hall of Records building to participate in the public comment of the last Fresno Board of Supervisors regular meeting of the year.
The demonstrations were spurred by what the groups say are “increasingly violent and relentless sweeps of houseless residents in California.”
Election-year political pressure to crack down on the state’s swelling of homeless encampments ratched up over the summer after the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court signed off on local-level anti-encampment laws. Fresno leaders mounted hasty and celebratory news conferences soon after, announcing plans for new criminal penalties for unhoused campers who “refuse services.”
Fresno leaders have rebuffed criticism that their new rules simply criminalize homelessness, but, more than three months later, questions about where unhoused residents are supposed to go and why there aren’t enough services available remain unanswered.
Fresno attorney Kevin Little spoke at Tuesday’s demonstration and said “Fresno made a choice” to follow through on implementing their anti-encampment ordinances.
“The truth is, the current administration of our city doesn’t want to solve this problem,” Little said. “They want to run for office on this problem, they want to gain more funds from the city and state…federal government, pretending to stop this problem.”
The Supreme Court ruling made it legal for local jurisdictions to levy penalties to people sleeping in public spaces, but it did not require any of them to do it. It also relieved jurisdictions of needing to have readily available shelter before implementing these penalties.
The city’s shelter bed count is at about 850, but elected leaders have said there likely won’t be anymore added anytime soon.
“Regardless of the availability of bed space in this community,” Dyer said at the July introductory news conference, “we will hold our unsheltered population accountable and that could and will include arresting and taking them to jail if in fact they are in violation of the ordinance.”
But protesters on Tuesday called for practical solutions to homelessness, like investing in encampment management funding toward sanctuary-free communities, bolstering renters’ rights — through rent subsidies and a moratorium on evictions — and the divestment from the state for CARE Court — a new statewide health care program.
“Fresno County has long struggled with homelessness, but what’s becoming clear every day is that it just isn’t a temporary issue. It’s a systematic failure,” Martinez said. “Shelters are overrun, offering only a fraction of the capacity needed to serve the thousands of people that are experiencing homelessness in our community. Shelters are not the solution.”
The group says their demands are practical, citing wins by homeless advocacy groups like POOR Magazine — which established the Homfulness project. The project is a rent-free “forever home” for 22 formerly homeless families in Oakland. POOR also hopes to open more projects like Homefulness in L.A., San Francisco and Seattle.
