A 2-year-old girl and her brother, 9, likely froze to death as they bundled up with their relatives inside a van near a Detroit casino — months after the homeless family’s attempt to get into a city shelter fell on deaf ears,

Authorities say a family in Detroit reached out to the city’s homeless services for help almost three months before two children, ages 2 and 9, likely froze to death while sleeping in a van.

Over fierce objections from homeless advocates and service providers, Fremont, the Bay Area’s fourth-largest city, has adopted one of the strictest encamping bans anywhere in the region and California.

A California city voted to criminalize “aiding” and “abetting” homeless camps Tuesday – an unusual move that advocates say could stifle aid to help for people who need it.

The action by the city of Fremont, California, comes after a Supreme Court ruling in June that emboldened communities across the country to limit protections for people without homes. The court’s decision in Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson lets cities ban homeless residents from sleeping outside, even when a community lacks indoor shelter beds.