Fresno moves to require permits for homeless encampments
Friday, June 22, 2007
By The Associated Press
FRESNO - Homeless people likely will have a harder time setting up encampments in the city under a law that has won preliminary approval.
The city council on Tuesday voted 5-2 to approve the ordinance, which would require people to get permits before they erect tents, tarps and trailers on public property.
Violators would be given a warning and a list of agencies that can help them, but if they don't leave, they could be fined $100. Fines would subsequently rise to $200 and then $500 for subsequent violations in the same year.
The approval comes after criticism over the city's treatment of the homeless and their property, after about two dozen residents of an encampment under a highway overpass were evicted by the California Highway Patrol.
Fresno's homeless population has few options other than church-run shelters, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in a federal lawsuit filed last year to stop the city's raid on homeless encampments.
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