Unhoused San Jose residents could face citations, arrest for refusing shelter under mayor's proposal

SAN JOSE, Calif. - It's a new get-tough proposal for the unhoused in San Jose.

Mayor Matt Mahan is proposing a policy which could send the unhoused to jail if they refuse offers of shelter three different times.

On Thursday, Mayor Mahan said the city has made great strides in increasing shelter beds, safe parking, and transitional housing and those who are unhoused should take advantage of it or face consequences.   

Mahan said city data show about one in three unhoused residents who are offered shelter refuse help.  

‘Responsibility to shelter’

What they're saying:

"Homelessness cannot be a choice. Especially when over 200 people die on our streets each year," Mahan said. 

Mahan is calling his proposal "responsibility to shelter" which could result in citations for trespassing, or even arrest and jail time, for refusing shelter.  

"I am proposing that after three offers of shelter we hold people accountable for turning their lives around because we all have a responsibility to end this crisis," Mahan said. 

Jodie Botkin, who lived on the streets for 10 years and just moved into the city’s Monterey-Branham interim housing complex, does not support the mayor’s approach. 

 "I think it is wrong what he is doing.," she said. "I don’t think he should be doing that. He should also be thinking about the consequences of jailing people because if they jail people, they will lose everything they have left within the camps, which means there are going to be more stores robbed, more people in the neighborhoods robbed. It is not cool."

Living by the railroad tracks nearby, Cesar Muniz said he has been on the streets for four years and he does believe help should be accepted when offered. 

"It is a good thing that they are helping people move out of here and this situation and everything," he said. "There are some people who don’t want the help and I would not know why."

Muniz added he is currently on a waiting list for a city-sponsored interim housing apartment. 

The plan is supported by both the San Jose police and firefighters unions, who say their members face physical danger and spend extensive resources responding to calls for the unhoused. 

"We responded to service to one individual nearly 400 times in a year. That is more days than are in a year so we were going to this person multiple times a day," said Greg Tuyor, who represents San Jose Firefighters’ Local 230.

RELATED: San Jose officials break ground on next interim housing site

Dig deeper:

According to a city news release, unhoused residents will be given written citations if they refuse shelter two times over an 18-month period. 

If they refuse shelter a third time within that time period, they would be subject to arrest for trespassing. 

Shaunn Cartwright, with the Unhoused Response Group, protested at the news conference, saying the providers the city contracts with are part of the problem and the unhoused community does not trust them.  

"There has been a lot of damage done by different vendors and that is a large problem because the vendors control the shelters, the tiny homes-- so they have a large chunk of this," Cartwright said.

The mayor will bring this proposal to the city council next week as part of his March budget message, but at this point it is not known if the entire plan can be enforced with existing city ordinances, like trespassing, or whether there need to be any changes to the city’s municipal code.  

A final vote could come at the March 18 city council meeting. 

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