California judge pauses sweeping of homeless encampments amid heatwave

Order was issued against the city of Sacramento after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order

Amid a heatwave that is sweeping through parts of the American west, a federal judge in California has placed a temporary ban on sweeps of homeless encampments.

The US district court judge Troy L Nunley issued the order against the city of Sacramento on 3 August, after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order by sweeping an encampment during a time of excessive heat, which is anything over 90F (32C).

The temperature at the state capital is forecast to hit 90F or greater on 21 days in August, including nine days where the temperature is expected to reach 95F (35C), the Associated Press reported.

“The court concludes plaintiffs’ evidence forecasting excessive heat for the upcoming weeks and detailing the risks of heat-related deaths and illnesses is sufficient to show that irreparable harm will result in the absence of injunctive relief,” Nunley wrote in his order.

Last year, he ordered similar temporary restraining orders against the city to halt encampment sweeps during scorching temperatures that lasted nearly two months.

The complaint includes details from a sweep in mid July, when authorities removed about 30 people from a tree-lined street in the city’s midtown. The temperature that day was 91F (32.7C), and the sweep came just before a multi-day stretch of triple-digit temperatures, according to the AP.

The city did not offer any housing to the people kicked out of their temporary shelters, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Sacramento, alongside cities like Phoenix and those in the Los Angeles area, has faced soaring temperatures in recent weeks as a heatwave grips the region. On 11 July, California announced a two-year, $20m campaign meant to help protect vulnerable groups like seniors, pregnant people and workers from extreme heat. This allocation is a part of Gavin Newsom’s $400m extreme heat action plan, announced last April and which includes public awareness efforts and updates to infrastructure.

“The impacts of climate change have never been more clear – the hots continue to get hotter in our state and across the west putting millions of Californians at risk,” Newsom, the California governor, said in the July statement.

An unhoused encampment shaded by a tree in Sacramento, California. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP