‘Poverty is not a crime’: outrage after California city passes law targeting homeless encampments

Fremont adopts sweeping law that bans camping on public property and makes aiding, abetting' encampments illegal

A northern California city passed a law targeting unhoused people that will ban camping on public property and make permitting, aiding, [or] abetting" encampments illegal - a provision that has caused worry among non-profits and advocates.

The city council in Fremont, California, adopted the sweeping new ordinance - which has been described as one of the strictest in the state - on Tuesday with Fremont's mayor arguing such action was necessary to ensure residents' health and safety in the Bay Area community of 226,000. City officials were insistent that the law would not be used to target aid workers, but declined to clarify that point in the ordinance itself.