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San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced the initiative Thursday, reducing pressure on homeless people and increasingly emigrating shelters or facing prison time.
“Homelessness cannot be an option,” Mahan said at a press conference to announce his proposed ordinance. “After three offers from shelter, we propose to put people accountable for turning their lives around.”
Mahan’s proposal is the latest escalation in statewide crackdowns on homeless camps since the pivotal US Supreme Court decision on June 28th, with civic leaders across California since civics’ civic troops being unavailable, even if local officials provided the authority to ban camps on sidewalks, roads and other public property, and even if shelters are not available, since then, civic leaders across California have launched a variety of punitive tactics aimed at clearing homeless camps and leading people to shelter and treatment.
The Bay Area has responded specifically to the Supreme Court decision, sending a message that liberal basin communities often send out the message that the established camps that have taken root amid the closures and service cuts of the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer tolerant. Cities including Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco have adopted more aggressive enforcement strategies last year to demolish vast tent cities, which often involve public drug use, criminal activity and health risks.
Fremont, a diverse suburb 40 miles southeast of San Francisco, became the latest Bay Area City last month, adopting an ordinance banning homeless camps on public and private property. It also reiterated the clause this week that made the Homeless Camp a misdemeanor offence of “assistance and beg” in protests from nonprofits that serve homeless people.
In recent years, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who was right for homelessness, praised the Supreme Court’s decision and issued an executive order in July requiring California agencies to clear homeless encampments on state property and pressure cities to follow suit.
A moderate Democrat, Mahan split from the state’s Democratic leader last year, joining several other metropolitan mayors, supporting Proposition 36. This successfully voting law in November, which imposed severe penalties on people convicted of repeated thefts and crimes, including fentanyl. On the issue of homelessness, he resists the move to aggressive sweeps of homeless camps and homeless camps, claiming that without more shelter beds, such restrictions will only move the issue to nearby cities.
Instead, since the 2022 election, Mahan has focused on dramatically increasing the number of short-term shelter beds in his city as a way to deal with the crisis, rather than waiting until more permanent and costly and affordable housing options become available. The effort is a departure from the “housing first” strategy defended by progressive Democrats, supporting the creation of permanent, affordable housing, which is attached as the most effective way to end homelessness.
Under Mahan’s leadership, San Jose has invested heavily in interim housing and shelters, with over 2,000 units currently available or developed. With the city being provided with shelter, Mahan said it was time for people living on the street to be held accountable for coming inside. According to the mayor’s office, about a third of those who were provided with temporary housing rejected those offers.
Under Mahan’s proposal, which requires approval from the city council, those who reject the shelter offer will face punishment for their respective refusals, starting with a written warning and ending with the possibility of arrest.
Over 6,250 people are homeless in San Jose. Estimates for 2023 include nearly 4,400 people living on streets, cars or abandoned buildings that are not suitable for residence. Mahan said that mental health and addiction issues often keep people on the streets and “cannot make reasonable decisions about their well-being.”
“That doesn’t mean we should throw our hands and give up on them. It means we need to help them break the destructive cycle of hurting themselves and the larger community,” Mahan said.
The proposal is a supporter of the homeless, drawing opposition from some of the same factions who opposed the Mahan interim housing embrace, and refusing to jail as a tool to resolve the homelessness.
Jamie Chan, a professor at Berkeley, California, said her research shows that short-term shelter options, like San Jose’s priorities, could be an effective part of a multifaceted approach to solving homelessness.
“What we need is a variety of responses that fit the needs of different people’s preparation, motivation and ability to stay indoors,” Chan said, adding a warning that those short-term solutions are only effective when they involve part of the path to service and permanent housing.
While permanent support housing is considered the gold standard, Chan said: And we certainly need a short-term solution right now to correct and alleviate the pain and suffering that is happening on our streets. ”
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