by Natalie Hanson
posted Aug. 8
Civil rights advocates have often accused the City of Chico of creating a “web of ordinances” that target unhoused people.
These advocates say the enforcement of anti-camping ordinances restrict the actions of homeless people by threatening fines, misdemeanor charges or jail time. Unhoused people in Chico have few options for where they may sit or sleep during the day or night or where they may place their property. They may face citations for violations, including for having a vehicle in which they sleep or for pushing a cart of belongings.
Chico was one of several cities that created a web of ordinances in the early 2010s that effectively criminalize homelessness, the ACLU said. In 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said the number of ordinances and how Chico officials were wielding them against unhoused people helped fuel “dehumanizing” attitudes.
The lead plaintiff in the Warren v. Chico lawsuit, Bobby Warren, was himself caught in the web. Warren had a court docket with a litany of various charges involving such ordinances, ChicoSol reported three years ago.
Today the City announced that it intends to seek judicial relief to remove itself from the Warren v. Chico Settlement Agreement that limited Chico’s enforcement of these ordinances.
The City’s municipal code contains ordinances cited by Legal Services of Northern California — the legal aid agency that represented Warren and seven other unhoused plaintiffs — in its list filed in the lawsuit. For example:
- Title 9.20 restricts camping in public areas and affects unhoused people in multiple ways. It says that shelter space shall not be considered available if it requires mandatory participation in a program or separating family members, or disqualifies a person “due to any restrictions, rules or covenants beyond their use or control.” It also outlaws storing personal property in public areas.
- The ordinance 9.44 (often called the sit/lie law) restricts sitting on sidewalks in commercial districts, except in a medical emergency or when using a wheelchair, and resting in a building entrance.
- Section 9.27 restricts people’s use of shopping carts in public.
- Title 12R restricts how people use Bidwell Park, such as preventing camping and enforcing the park being closed during night hours.
Until now, said Chico Police Department Lt. Ben Love, “The city of Chico [was] constrained under the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement to only enforce anti-camping laws against individuals on public property after a specific process and criteria is met.”
Now, City officials are using the high court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling to try to get out of the Settlement Agreement and enforce these ordinances with more freedom and without proving there are shelter alternatives.
Love said the City doesn’t collect data on whether a person is unhoused when issuing a citation. He also said his team hasn’t cited anyone for violating the sit/lie law this year. Love told ChicoSol this week that despite recent evictions and movement at Eaton and Cohasset, officials haven’t cited or arrested any of the residents.
Councilmember Addison Winslow has been vocal this week in his opposition to the City’s decision to return to court to dissolve the Settlement Agreement instead of negotiating revisions.
“If we criminalize sleep for people who have no shelter to go to, either the public pays to house them in jail or they go to sleep some place else,” Winslow states in a press release issued today. “If you criminalize camping everywhere you in effect allow camping anywhere. When the best hope for peace is in hiding, the safest places become the deepest ravines with the densest vegetation. This is a formula for fire and trash in our green spaces.”
Natalie Hanson is a contributing editor to ChicoSol.
I wholeheartedly agree with Addison Wilson. There is 1 good/smart/fellow citizen/countrymen. Amen
P.S. keep up the good work Addison !
Housing is good, but it takes more time. What we have is a declared Shelter Crisis combined with an economic crisis; The lack of good paying jobs and rental prices increasing beyond many people’s ability to pay. What we can do is work with non-profits and provide safe shelter for all before winter. Chico has over 700 acres for intermittent cattle grazing! How about two acres for a low barrier managed campground and save some lives? What do you say? That would save taxpayer money compared to the current strategy of using the jail and the Emergency Room so much more. Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you makes for less despair and that makes for safer streets.
Right. Why ever can’t this happen? What is so hard about? What are the stumbling blocks?