FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The City of Fresno faces a federal lawsuit as unhoused resident Wickey Twohands claims the city has criminalized homelessness.
“Those claims include disability discrimination, age discrimination, violation of equal protection,” attorney Kevin Little told Action News on Friday. He represents Twohands and the other plaintiff, Joseph Quinney.
At issue is a 2024 ordinance that bans unhoused people from camping in public spaces.
Twohands and Quinney are now seeking monetary damages.
“We want change. People are suffering and dying on our streets,” Little said. “We just can’t continue to stand by and try to enforce people out of existence.”
The lawsuit comes as the California Highway Patrol confirms two people died overnight as they fell asleep with a warming fire and ran out of oxygen.
“We do not want people to remain on the streets,” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said. “It’s not the right environment for them, especially in this cold weather.”
Dyer told Action News that the city has 40 people assigned to an outreach team.
“We partner with the Poverello House, reaching out, offering services to those folks,” he said. “We always have shelter beds available.”
But advocates for the unhoused highlight the recent closure of an emergency shelter on Blackstone Avenue, claiming ongoing conversations with the city have not been productive.
“Unfortunately, we felt the lawsuit was important and perhaps a way of forcing the city to engage us in a dialogue,” Little said.
The city has been through this before. Action News was there in 2006 as Pamela Kincaid sued the City of Fresno after employees destroyed an encampment.
“All my possessions were taken, including my documents, my ID – everything,” she said at the time.
Kincaid later won.
“And even still, nothing has changed,” Little said as he spoke about the new litigation.
Little personally served the lawsuit to city officials on Friday.
City Attorney Andrew Janz did not respond to Action News’ request for comment on Friday, but issued a statement on Thursday.
“I look forward to taking this case to the Supreme Court,” he wrote, in part. “The municipal law passed by the Fresno City Council does not punish housing status, just behavior.”
“We have a crisis here,” Little said. “It’s not the unhoused who lack the wherewithal. It’s the city that lacks the wherewithal.”
For news updates, follow Gabe Ferris on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Copyright © 2025 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.