The Democratic mayor of San Jose, California, is standing firm on his plan to arrest members of the city’s homeless community who refuse shelter.
Mayor Matt Mahan’s “Responsibility to Shelter” comes amid a fresh crackdown on homelessness from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced Tuesday that the state’s cities and counties should ban homeless encampments.
“Encampments pose a serious public safety risk, and expose the people in encampments to increased risk of sexual violence, criminal activity, property damage and break-ins, and unsanitary conditions,” the statement said.
Mahan’s policy is that those who refuse shelter on three occasions will be detained, arrested, or hospitalized.
Part of the plan requires officials to “make every reasonable effort” to shelter the unhoused. “Our goal is to get everyone indoors, into shelter or treatment,” Mahan told KRON4 this week.
The station’s report mentions that Mahan will have to get the city council on board with the plan before it comes to fruition.
At Monday’s city council budget meeting, Mahan said that city officials have spent millions clearing encampments throughout the city.
“As you know, we already do hundreds of encampment abatements per year, prioritizing areas where the public right of way has been blocked, where there’s an accumulation of trash or biohazards, particularly in our waterways,” the mayor said.
The mayor reiterated that his plan was designed to help the city’s unhoused people.
“When someone’s refusing to come indoors, there’s a sign that there’s a deeper issue, a deeper need, and we have a responsibility to intervene. We just saw in the last week, a police officer stabbed by an unhoused resident. A 15-year-old student punched on his way to school,” he said.
Dozens of protestors rallied outside San Jose’s City Hall Monday to speak out against the bill.
“California as a whole has become ground zero for the homelessness crisis,” Mahan said last month when the plan was first announced.
“Far too often we encounter folks who, largely due to addiction or mental illness, are unwilling or unable to say yes to the help that we’re providing so while we have to hold ourselves responsible for building shelter, people also have a responsibility for coming indoors when it’s being provided,” the mayor said in an NBC News interview.
Prior to his election in November 2022, Mahan worked as a teacher through Teach for America, and was also involved in several business ventures, founding companies focused on “empowering neighborhoods and holding our government accountable”.
