A California city is considering arresting unhoused people who refuse their offer of shelter.
San José Mayor Matt Mahan made the admission last month.
Just 48 miles south of San Francisco, where officials are also struggling with how to solve homelessness, Mahan is aiming to fit the proposal into a pending budget plan that would allocate funding for shelter and temporary housing, per KQED.
If enacted, unhoused residents would first be issued a citation or warning. They’d only be subject to arrest if they decline shelter three times.
The city of nearly a million operates tiny homes, converted motels and parking lots as part of its 1,000 shelter spaces. Constructing temporary housing has been a hallmark of the mayor’s agenda.
City staff have faced challenges when trying to encourage unhoused people to take beds in a new 204-unit interim housing site that opened in February. People currently living outside near a housing site can accept spots before the building opens.
“If someone is refusing a brand new apartment with an en-suite bathroom and a kitchenette, as is the case at Branham and Monterey — where we just saw roughly one-third of people encamped in the area say ‘no’ — we are probably beyond the point where the city has the tools to help that person,” Mahan opined, according to the radio station.
Roughly 5,477 people are living in San José without shelter. Out of those, about 541 people have resisted help.
The majority of the people rejecting help might be dealing with chronic homelessness or behavioral health issues and addiction, Mahan wrote in a Medium article.
He noted the city would only consider imposing trespassing laws as a last resort to get someone off the streets.
Trespassing violations are subject to behavioral health court. Once in court, a judge will listen to health care professionals and decide whether mandated treatment is warranted, wrote Mahan.
Individuals charged with trespassing will not spend time in jail.
“Our best case scenario is diversion to mental health or drug court and the worst case scenario is that the person is simply released back onto the street where we can only hope that this brief interaction with law enforcement might increase their willingness to seek a change in their lives by accepting shelter,” the mayor continued.
He said the city has listened to the homeless community about ongoing issues with shelters and emphasized most of the housing on offer looks like market-rate housing or college dorms. He expects hundreds more of the units will be built this year.
People are allowed to bring their partner, pets and belongings with them to the sites. Individuals will not be kicked out on a predetermined timeline. Some might spend a couple of months in transitional housing before moving to something permanent, while others might take years.
“In no way do I judge people who are suffering from addiction or other forms of mental illness,” he wrote. “But I do believe we have a collective responsibility to bring them indoors and give them a chance to detox, medicate, reconnect with loved ones or otherwise accept the help they need to achieve greater health and independence and have less impact on the broader community.
“Otherwise, we are leaving our most vulnerable to continue deteriorating on our streets with no plan in place to help them.”
The only expectation, Mahan says, is coming indoors to “stop the continuous fires, trash and other impacts of long-term encampments that harm our collective safety and quality of life.”
He added: “If someone doesn’t agree with these expectations, they are free to find another city that refuses to intervene and help people when their behavior is harming their own health and the safety of the community. Because in San José, our community is unwilling to allow indefinite public camping when housing is available.”
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