Fresno\u2019s anti-camping ordinance is widely viewed as ineffective nearly two years after its passage, and the candidates competing for four City Council seats in the June 2 primary are pitching a range of fixes.<\/p>\n
Here are key takeaways from the candidates who chose to fill out Fresno Bee questionairres or joined in-person candidate forums. For more detailed information click on the live links below and watch our forum videos about the homelessness issue<\/p>\n
The ordinance<\/a>, passed in fall 2024, bans sleeping, sitting, lying or storing personal property in public spaces, with arrest used to push people into drug treatment and provisional housing instead of criminal charges. But participation in the \u201ctreatment first\u201d diversion program has been minimal, according to city statistics.In District 1<\/a>, Joe Hinojosa emphasizes prevention and early intervention, Monte Forkas wants to study what works in comparable cities before spending more, Naindeep Singh focuses on keeping seniors housed and coordinating with the county, and Rob Fuentes would shift encampment-enforcement dollars toward mobile mental health and addiction teams.District 3<\/a> candidates Charles Montoya, Tiffany Apodaca and Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula argue housing must be paired with mental health care, addiction treatment and case management, calling for a comprehensive approach rather than enforcement alone, in responses to The Bee\u2019s District 3 questionnaire.Also in District 3, Keshia Thomas highlights weak city-county cooperation as a root barrier, Jalen Swank says recent investments need time to show results, and Fernando Alvarez prioritizes rent control and property tax relief to keep residents housed in the first place.District 5<\/a> incumbent Brandon Vang and challengers Danielle Parra and Jose Leon Barraza push for expanded shelter capacity and stronger city-county coordination, while Nickolas Wildstar proposes using $10.5 million in state Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention funds to build a 3D-printed home manufacturing facility in Southeast Fresno.In District 7<\/a>, attorney Nav Gurm is the only candidate to explicitly back the ordinance, saying public spaces should not become permanent encampments and that individuals must be required to accept help when shelter and services are offered.The other District 7 candidates take different routes: Ariana Martinez Lott supports a Housing First model and opposes criminalizing homelessness, AJ Rassamni backs safe, managed camps with sanitation, mental health treatment and addiction recovery support.<\/p>\n Fresno City Council District 1 candidates: Monte Forkas, Rob Fuentes, Joe Hinojosa and Naindeep Singh.<\/a><\/p>\n Read the Bee\u2019s endorsement: Fresno City Council District 1; a fresh face with some key experience<\/a><\/p>\n Fresno City Council District 3 candidates: Fernando Alvarez, Tiffany Apodaca, Joaquin Arambula, Larry Burrus, Charles Montoya, Jalen Swank and Keshia Thomas.<\/a><\/p>\n Read the Bee\u2019s endorsement: Fresno City Council District 3, bringing state experience to the local level<\/a><\/p>\n Fresno City Council District 5 candidates: Jose Leon Barraza, Daniella Parra, Brandon Vang (incumbent) and Nickolas Wildstar.<\/a><\/p>\n Read the Bee\u2019s endorsement: Fresno City Council District 5; let\u2019s see what he can do<\/a><\/p>\n Fresno City Council District 7 candidates: Nav Gurm, Ariana Martinez Lott and AJ Rassamni<\/a><\/p>\n Read the Bee\u2019s endorsement: Fresno City Council District 7, we\u2019re going to let the voters tell us on this one<\/a><\/p>\n Original stories by Lilana Fannin<\/p>\n This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media\u2019s AI policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno\u2019s anti-camping ordinance is widely viewed as ineffective nearly two years after its passage, and the candidates competing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-330773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}