San Jose mayor and Trump aligned in homeless response
SAN JOSE, CA - FEBRUARY 23: A homeless encampment is photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, Calif. - When it comes to homelessness, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and President Donald Trump see eye to eye: get homeless people off the streets and into treatment centers.
Trump signed an executive order last Thursday calling to prioritize funding for cities and states that prohibit homeless encampments and drug use in public, and directing more assistance to local governments for outpatient treatment programs.
"Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order," Trump wrote in his executive order. "Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens."
It’s an order San Jose is already largely implementing. In an attempt to compel people into housing, Mahan created a policy to arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse shelter. His stated rationale was by arresting them, the city could then turn them over to the county’s behavioral court system or a treatment center, despite county leaders saying that’s not the way the system works.
"I think we all want to get people off the streets," Mahan told San José Spotlight when asked if he agrees with Trump’s executive order.
Mahan said the city already bans open-air drug use, and homeless encampments have been banned near schools, certain parks and certain waterways.
Last month, Mahan touted a new court-ordered injunction barring suspected drug dealers from St. James Park in downtown as he eyes the strategy for other public spaces. The injunction approach could be used in areas seen as "hotspots" for homeless residents struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
Trump’s executive order called for an end to the "housing first" model, which prioritizes funding for affordable housing based on the premise housing creates stability which enables individuals to address other problems. The model has no mandates to obtain housing. Trump’s approach requires sobriety or treatment to receive homeless assistance or housing.
Sandy Perry, board vice president of the South Bay Community Land Trust, said Trump’s executive order falsely frames the root cause of homelessness, which research shows largely stems from a lack of affordable housing. Instead, the concept uses broad strokes to paint homeless people as criminals and drug users.
"(Trump) claims we are in a crisis of crime and disorder on America’s streets. In fact, FBI statistics show that both property and violent crime in America are at 40-year lows," Perry told San José Spotlight. "Mahan is a little more sophisticated in his approach. But the results of his and Trump’s policies are the same: ending money for affordable housing and ramping up draconian sweeps and criminalization of unhoused people."
The city has ramped up its encampment sweeps, clearing more than 500 camps last fiscal year.
"Grand pronouncements from federal and state levels of government are not what ends homelessness," Mahan said. "That is going to take common sense policies like creating safe and decent shelter faster and at lower cost, focusing on treatment for underlying issues like mental health and addiction and requiring people to come indoors when shelter is available. These are the policies we are implementing here in San Jose."
As a result of the city’s aggressive push to build temporary sites, San Jose’s unsheltered homeless population is down to 3,959 people compared to nearly 5,000 unsheltered people in 2022. However, San Jose’s overall homeless population has ticked up 237 people from a 2023 point-in-time count to 6,503 homeless residents.
Perry said both Trump and Mahan oppose affordable housing because it slows the rise of rents and property values. This fiscal year, the San Jose City Council diverted nearly all of Measure E money, a property transfer tax passed by San Jose voters in 2020 to fund permanent affordable housing, into funding temporary shelters.
"Trump is a real estate executive and Mahan a former tech executive. Tech and real estate industries are completely entwined, especially in the Bay Area, where all the large tech companies actually have real estate divisions," Perry said. "They want to sweep unhoused people off the streets because the sight of poverty appears to reduce property values."
This story was first reported and published by San Jose Spotlight.