California City May Arrest Homeless Who Reject Shelter | EUROtoday

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Homeless individuals who reject three provides of shelter might be arrested below a controversial proposal earlier than town council of essentially the most populous metropolis in California’s Silicon Valley on Tuesday.

The proposal being pushed by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahon is eye-opening as a result of it comes from a liberal metropolis headed by a Democrat within the left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area. It is among the many stricter anti-encampment deterrents proposed by elected officers for the reason that Supreme Court in 2023 made it simpler to ban homeless individuals from tenting on public property.

And it’s one other signal of simply how pissed off individuals have grow to be with squalid tents lining sidewalks and riverbanks, and erratic habits of these utilizing medication or in misery in a state with an estimated 187,000 homeless individuals. California is residence to roughly 1 / 4 of all homeless individuals within the nation.

Mahan says most individuals do settle for provides of shelter. But he needs to clarify to the small share of people that refuse, that as town builds extra shelter and interim housing, they’ve a accountability to maneuver indoors.

“I think we need a cultural change, a culture of accountability for everyone involved,” stated Mahan. “I don’t want to use the criminal justice system to make vulnerable people’s lives harder. I want to use it as a last resort.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, has repeatedly urged cities to ban encampments. Arrests for unlawful lodging have soared in San Francisco, and its present mayor, Daniel Lurie, has reiterated that it’s not applicable for individuals to reside outside.

Advocates for homeless individuals say cracking down on encampments is traumatizing and even counterproductive. Forcing an individual to filter units them again of their seek for stability as they may lose vital paperwork wanted to use for work and housing, they stated.

“Pushing people with mental health needs or drug addiction into incarceration — without any crime committed — is both inhumane and ineffective,” stated Otto Lee, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, in a written assertion emailed Monday to The Associated Press.

Lee and different county leaders are against the mayor’s proposal. They say they want extra housing, beds and providers, and never punishment.

The “responsibility to shelter” proposal doesn’t mandate an arrest after three rejected provides. After speaking with town lawyer’s workplace and police, Mahan stated it made extra sense to offer front-line outreach employees and law enforcement officials discretion to resolve when to escalate or prioritize a state of affairs. The metropolis will arrange a brand new six-officer high quality of life unit inside the police division.

“We don’t want to overly tie their hands and tell them this is the only way to do it,” the mayor stated.

People who repeatedly violate town’s encampment code of conduct — which additionally consists of preserving tents freed from trash and never blocking the general public proper of method — might be despatched to a restoration middle for detox or petitioned for court-mandated remedy to psychological well being and substance use dysfunction care, Mahan stated.

San Jose has almost 1,400 shelter spots and hopes so as to add one other 800 by the tip of the 12 months. Officials are conscious they don’t have sufficient beds, and Mahan stated that individuals is not going to be punished if beds are unavailable or the one choices are unsuitable.