Presently the only location in downtown Santa Cruz where people on the street are able to sleep regularly as a group is at the weekly community sleepouts organized by the Freedom Sleepers. Homeless sweeps conducted by the Santa Cruz Police Department beginning in January of this year have for the most part cleared the downtown area of groups of people sleeping together in other locations, such as at the post office. Since July of 2015, the Freedom Sleepers have gathered to sleep at city hall one night a week to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness. September 20 marked the group's 63rd sleepout.

By sleeping at city hall, the Freedom Sleepers, some of whom have fixed housing of their own and some of whom do not, are engaging in a civil disobedience protest that directly violates the city's camping ban, which outlaws sleeping anywhere in public between the hours of 11 pm and 8:30 am. Many of the organizers of the sleepouts are hesitant to describe them as a completely safe place to sleep, but one of the founding Freedom Sleepers, Robert Norse of Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF), has described them as "safe zones" that are a "safer" place to sleep.

"A lot of the homeless people have come up to several of us and said that this is the only night of the week they can get an uninterrupted night of sleep," said Abbi Samuels, who is also one of the founding Freedom Sleepers. "To me that's so sad that there is only one night a week they can get 7-8 hours of sleep," she said.

Read More with Photos | See Also: Sleepers Assemble for Freedom SleepOut #61 | Count for Freedom Sleepers Reaches 60 Nights Out

Related Features: Going Into Year Two with the Freedom Sleepers | Santa Cruz City Council Votes Down Change to Sleeping Ban Law | Santa Cruz Police Target Homeless Sleepers Downtown | Sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall Advance into 2016 | Bell v. Boise Still Casts Shadow Over Santa Cruz