Over 20 eager Fresno residents spoke up at Fresno City Council on Thursday, June 20th to deliver one message: stop funding the HART team. The Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART)--formerly known as the Homeless Task Force– is a city agency with a primary goal to “protect, assess, and connect [the] unhoused to families, housing, and resources,” according to Mayor Jerry Dyer.
HART is made up of Poverello House outreach members, code enforcement members, and a group of Fresno Police Department officers and sergeants. Dyer launched the HART team at the start of 2022. Despite the mayor's rhetoric regarding the agency, the public have been accusing HART and the Homeless Task Force of dehumanizing and mistreating Fresno’s unhoused for years. You can read more about HART and other components of Fresno’s homelessness policy in USpark’s recent piece, Tensions Heat Up for Fresno’s Unhoused.
Dyer and Fresno City Councilmembers approved a $2 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year. That budget includes $300k for the HART team.
Dyer and other proponents of HART claim that the agency helps “unhoused people and families with compassion and empathy.” However, on June 20th in Fresno City Hall, advocates, professionals, and unhoused people declared otherwise. They expressed that HART is both harmful to the unhoused and a waste of taxpayer money.
Dawn Sturdivan, an unhoused person, made her voice heard before the city's representatives. “The HART team is quite heartless” she paused, “they are perpetuating the continued homelessness by the sweeps that they do, the degradation, the downputting, the making everyone feel less than human.”
A number of other unhoused people addressed Fresno City Council with personal testimony of getting mistreated and even assaulted by HART. They accused HART of repeatedly stealing personal property during sweeps. HART has taken crucial items from the unhoused such as toiletries, clothes, ID’s, paperwork, and cell phones. One speaker, Alicia Jacobi, shared about a time a Fresno PD officer with HART threw away a clearly labeled container of a deceased parent’s ashes.
The severity of each person’s experience with HART built and expanded as the council meeting progress. At one point, Crystal, an unhoused person, described how she was “rushed” and “almost hit by a sergeant’s vehicle” before HART arrested her during a sweep. She explained that HART creates a “cycle” of homelessness. Crystal pleaded for the Fresno City Council to “come together and figure a solution, because whatever you guys are doing isn’t working.”
Leticia Navaretti with the Fresno Homeless Union, further emphasized the recklessness of HART’s abusive cycle. Navaretti stated that when she was unhoused, the Homeless Task Force “is what kept me out there longer.” Navaretti took a deep breath before adding, “I lost my trust and faith in the city.”
Some residents approached the council to demand that Fresno abolish the HART team and use that money towards more effective homelessness programming such as the Eviction Protection Program. One speaker, Ericka Kruse, laid out a specific set of alternative systems to consider:
- Establish policy to protect the rights and belongings of the unhoused
- Address grievances caused by the HART team
- Allow vacant city lots to be used as safe spaces for the unhoused
- Organize an oversight mediation board of advocates and community leaders to hold shelters accountable to meeting city standards
- Plan for more access to water, bathrooms, and showers year-round
- Keep warming and cooling centers open year-round with access to transportation
- Revamp wrap-around services for those that don’t have access to shelters
Adriana Torres echoed the sentiment that the HART team does not help the unhoused, but rather, they make things worse. She questioned the council: “Why are we giving the HART team money? What do they need? A bigger dump truck?”
The speakers on this day did not go unchallenged. Fresno Councilmember and representative of District 6, Garry Bredefeld, scolded the public for stating their concerns. He suggested that the city was doing enough for the unhoused, adding that the community is “portraying themselves as victims.” Bredefeld addressed the unhoused directly: “Stop doing drugs, stop abusing yourself, stop complaining, accept responsibility for your life.” Bredefeld’s comments were condescending and altogether disregarded the people’s pleas for safety and protection.
Ironically, Bredefeld proudly admonished what many Fresno residents have been feeling: our city council is not helping. “You expect [the] government to be your solution," Bredefeld doubled down, "We are not the solution, never have been.” While Fresno residents attempt to meet their civic duties and let their city representatives know what they need, this city representative outright stated that he has no part in being “the solution.” To top off Bredefeld’s apathy, he told the public to “stop coming here demanding that the city give you more.” Despite being tasked with speaking on behalf of his constituents, Bredefeld boldly refuses to listen to the city’s cries.
One constituent, Dez Martinez, spoke out against Bredefeld. Martinez interrupted the District 6 representative, pleading “don’t let him talk to us like this.” Council President, Annalisa Perea repeatedly warned Martinez to stop disrupting the council before asking for her removal. Dez says six officers escorted her out of the meeting.
Council member Garry Bredefeld went on a 3-minute rant dehumanizing Fresno’s unhoused community as they bravely shared their stories. Advocate Dez Martinez stood up for them and was kicked out of City Hall.
In an interview with Dez after the city council meeting, Dez shared her point-of-view.
“This is abuse. Why are you [Councilmember Perea] allowing him to talk to us like this.” Dez expressed that Bredefeld’s comments were a micro-representation of some city officials who “demean you and demean you until they break you.”
Dez recalled her right to free speech and urged that Fresno City Council be held accountable for their treatment of the public.