Banning Prohibitions on Aid for Unhoused Community Members (SB 634)

Sustainable public investment in affordable housing is the key to ending houselessness and ensuring that all Californians have access to a safe, affordable home. But instead of making these investments, California and its local governments have allowed the affordable housing and houselessness crisis to spiral out of control. Our cities and counties have increasingly turned to criminalization of houselessness.  For unhoused individuals the result is crippling fines, fees and ultimately, jail. For organizations it means prohibiting them from filling the gaps left when governments at all levels fail to meet the survival needs of unhoused Californians.

When I provide someone with a tent or blanket, I could be breaking the law. I am also putting the person I’m helping in danger of violating laws that ban camping.

SB 634 would prohibit a local jurisdiction from adopting a local ordinance or enforcing an existing ordinance that prohibits a person or organization from:

• providing support services, including legal services or medical care, to a person who is unhoused or 
• assisting a person who is houseless with any act related to basic survival, including, but not limited to, the possession or erection of a tent or tarp, eating or drinking, possessing and using blankets or pillows, seeking shade, and other activities to protect oneself from the elements.  

California’s failure to ensure that we all have access to the basic resources required to stay alive – including housing, food, water, and clothing – is an immoral violation of international human rights law. Criminalizing unhoused community members compounds this injustice and the process of local governments and the state extracting financial resources from those with the least makes it even more difficult for them to survive.  It is also simply dehumanizing. As one Californian arrested for being unhoused said about police officers, “They make me feel like nobody. Like I don’t count as a person.” 

Persecuting voluntary groups and individuals for meeting the survival needs of unhoused neighbors creates a climate of fear, dampening humanitarianism and criminalizing their moral actions. Criminalization of unhoused neighbors creates a moral dilemma for humanitarians. As one advocate said, “When I provide someone with a tent or blanket, I could be breaking the law. I am also putting the person I’m helping in danger of violating laws that ban camping.” These ordinances ultimately shut off survival resources from those with the greatest need.

This is not who we are as Californians. We must demand a state in which all residents have access to the basic resources needed to thrive, are treated with dignity and respect, and have the opportunity to express their humanitarian values and participate fully and equally in their communities. This bill prevents the unnecessary criminalization of humanitarian actions and continues to move the state forward towards this vision. 

Principal Bill Author:

Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena)

Bill Co-sponsors:

• Disability Rights California
• Inner City Law Center
• National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Western Center on Law and Poverty