Unhoused people could face fines, arrest if they don't use San Jose shelter resources
Unhoused people could face fines, arrest if they don't use San Jose shelter resources
San Jose city council meets to adopt ordinance where homeless people could be fined or arrested for not accepting city services.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a majority vote, San Jose's City Council voted to approve a new measure aimed at curbing unhoused encampments in that city: the "Responsibility to Shelter" ordinance would require people living on the street or along creek beds to use city sheltering resources or face fines.
Ordinance passes
What we know:
The council voted 9-2 at a meeting on Tuesday.
"We have updated our code of conduct and set a clear expectation that if you are living on our streets, while you have a right to a safe and dignified place and we are making historic efforts for safe shelter, you also have a responsibility to use it when it is provided," Mayor Matt Mahan said after the vote.
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Mahan said a key aspect of the policy is "discretion."
How it works
Dig deeper:
The ordinance gives a special team of city police officers the power to issue citations the first two times an unhoused person refuses to accept city services, such as temporary shelter.
The timeframe would be 18 months.
The third time they refuse, officers could arrest them.
Mahan hopes the plan will get more people into shelters.
Homeless advocates don't like the plan, arguing the mayor wants to criminalize homelessness.
"People are going to be getting arrested and the police are still going to be roaming through camps, looking for people who make the slightest mistakes, and then arrest people," said Shaunn Cartwright with the Unhoused Response Network.
City officials said the arrests would be for trespassing, not for being unhoused.
"Stop this completely insane cruel plan he's putting on the table to harass our unhoused community," Gilza Gonzalez of Sacred Heart Community Service said in May. "It's not a real solution."
The new code of conduct takes effect on July 1st.