The City of Santa Cruz is considering a number of new policies that would impact local homeless people. Not only has there been an effort by a handful of property owners and their allies at City Hall to end the Food Not Bombs meals outside the downtown Post Office, but there are also reports that officials may implement a number of new restrictions and architectural changes to make the lives of those without housing more painful.

Right now more than 20 people sleep out each night to protest the sleeping ban. The Survival Sleepers, as they are called, started their nightly protest when the Winter Shelter closed. The city is also considering removing the benches outside the library and stationing two or more police officers at City Hall. Many homeless people sit on those benches both during the day and after the library is closed. The Freedom Sleepers are seeking funds to station a portable toilet outside City Hall as part of the campaign to defend the rights of those living outside.

One unhoused person, Greg Mercado, died of complications from an old surgery at the corner of Church and Center Streets twelve hours after the police kicked him out from the City Hall grounds and gave him a ticket for being in a park after hours.

The Freedom Sleepers invite all members of the public to participate in a Housing for All protest on Tuesday, May 9. The Freedom Sleepers are asking people to bring a blanket or sleeping bag to public comment at the City Council chambers after the May 9 march from the County Building, to the downtown Post Office anti-homeless fence, and ending at City Hall.

Read More | Homelessness: Our Failure As A Society | Tuesday, May 9: No Penalty for Poverty - Housing for All

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