Orange County’s most populous city is joining the ranks of local municipalities to intensify their laws regulating homelessness in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that gives them more power to do so.
This week, the Anaheim City Council voted to make it a crime to lie down or sleep on public sidewalks and benches. People who violate that law can be jailed and prosecuted with a misdemeanor, according to the ordinance.
“The sidewalk belongs to everybody,” Councilmember Jose Diaz said, according to the O.C. Register. “Not to an individual who wants to grab that piece of land. It’s not yours to grab. You either take services from us or you get out.”
The ordinance does not require the city to offer shelter or other services before enforcing the ordinance, which was required under past court rulings.
The ordinance approved by the council says police officers, if they choose to, can offer to take the person to services for mental health, housing or substance abuse treatment instead of going to jail.
Why now?
The move comes in the wake of a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, known as Grants Pass, which gave cities and counties the power to arrest and cite unhoused people for sleeping in public without needing to offer shelter.
Since the ruling, cities across SoCal have been re-examining their laws on sleeping and camping in public.
Anaheim isn’t alone
Last month, Newport Beach leaders enacted a ban on people setting up tents on public land, such as parks and beaches, or sleeping in public restrooms and lying down or sleeping on public benches. That city’s new ordinance also makes it illegal for people to be in public…
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