Alex Darocy Photography

Rain showers persisted throughout the evening of the 75th Freedom Sleepers community sleepout, which was organized at Santa Cruz City Hall on December 13-14. In response to the weather, individuals slept at a variety of different locations around city hall to maintain their protest against local laws that criminalize homelessness. At the previous sleepout, held on the evening of December 6-7, the sleep protesters faced the coldest and harshest weather of the season thus far, with temperatures lowering into the mid-30s. Freedom Sleepers at city hall during the 75th Community Sleepout on December 13-14 The Freedom Sleepers are a coalition of unhoused and housed activists who have been sleeping weekly at Santa Cruz City Hall since July 4, 2015. They use sleep as an act of civil disobedience, and the primary demand of their protest is for the city to repeal its camping ban ordinance, which prohibits sleeping anywhere in public between the hours of 11 pm and 8:30 am. Additionally, s...

Santa Cruz police initiated a raid at City Hall on November 23 at 3:30 am, shortly after it stopped raining that evening, to clear from the area approximately two dozen individuals who had been sleeping and sheltering themselves from the weather under the eaves of the buildings in the complex. Officers issued citations to individuals, and made one arrest. City Hall property is closed to the public between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Many of those sleeping at City Hall were participating in the weekly Freedom Sleepers sleep protest, while others were simply sheltering themselves from the wet weather temporarily with the group. SCPD officers wake up individuals sleeping at Santa Cruz City Hall to avoid the rain on November 23. The evening of November 22-23 marked the 72nd community sleepout organized by the Freedom Sleepers, a coalition of unhoused and housed activists who have been sleeping at Santa Cruz City Hall since July 4, 2015 to protest local laws that criminalize homele...

On November 8, the 70th Freedom Sleepers community sleepout was held at Santa Cruz City Hall, with about three dozen individuals participating and making it through the night. There have been periods of wet weather recently, but Tuesday nights have been dry in Santa Cruz, and attendance at the sleepouts has remained consistently high since August of this year. The Freedom Sleepers are a coalition of unhoused and housed activists who have gathered to sleep at City Hall one night a week since July of 2015 to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness. Many of the Freedom Sleepers are also active as volunteers with Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, which shares food at the sleepouts and operates a "free market." By sleeping at City Hall, the Freedom Sleepers 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. Despite intense pressure from the ...

After a chilly series of summer nights for people on the street in Santa Cruz, temperatures have increased, and so has attendance at the Freedom Sleepers community sleepouts held at city hall. About three dozen sleepers made it through the night at the sleepout held on August 30, and attendance was nearly as high at the sleepouts organized on September 6 and September 13. 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 13 marked the group's 62nd sleepout. The Freedom Sleepers at Santa Cruz city hall at the 61st community sleepout organized on September 6-7. 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 ...

After celebrating their one-year anniversary on July 5, the Freedom Sleepers returned to Santa Cruz City Hall for their 53rd community sleepout on July 12, as well as their 54th sleepout on July 19. A Freedom Sleeper lies next to a protest sign that reads, "Embrace Your Moral Compass Because We Upon This Earth Are One," at the 53rd community sleepout held on July 12 Since July 4 of 2015, a coalition of unhoused and housed community members have converged to sleep at Santa Cruz City Hall every Tuesday night to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness. Many of those participating in the sleepouts call themselves Freedom Sleepers; individually and together they advocate for a wide variety of approaches to end the criminalization of sleep. The one primary demand that unites the Freedom Sleepers is their call to repeal the city's camping ordinance, which bans sleeping in public between the hours of 11pm and 8:30am, with or without the use of bedding material...