Two weeks after the mayor of San Jose, Matt Mahan, pleaded for a pair of bills which, according to him, would contribute to reducing the homeless homelessness, the legislators of the State returned the reverse to his legislative thrust, stoning a key disposition in one of the bills which would have forced the counties to make their fair share.
Believing that San Jose had exhausted too much of a homeless burden, Mahan sponsored the SB 16 of the state senator Catherine Blakespear (D-enCinitas) who would have forced the greatest counties to cover at least 50% of the operating costs that their cities spend to manage housing and intermediate shelters. But on Tuesday, these cost requirements were completely removed from the language of the bill.
“I went to Sacramento and I stood next to the senator Catherine Blakespear to announce legislation on the level of the state which would ensure that each level of government makes its fair share on homelessness. Today, the bill in which I supported is unrecognizable,” said Mahan on Tuesday.
“The powers that are decided this bill would threaten the status quo – which, to be fair, was exactly our goal. I will not stop fighting for the end of non-dissected homelessness, but the hard truth is, a city cannot do it alone, that is why I am grateful to make the leaders love the change we need. “
As one of the pillars of his mayor campaign, Mahan has targeted the end of “the era of camps” and praised a model published by the San Jose housing service this year which showed what he supported was a more feasible path for the homeless homeless of people who are there.
During the next year, San Jose will add more than 1,400 courses between safe parking sites and safe parking, conversions of hotel and motel rooms and tiny domestic communities. This week, the city will open a community of 135 units in Via Del Oro in South San Jose.
However, the Dspite San Jose push to considerably increase the interim housing, it does not have enough places for the self -Shelter -sheltered population estimated in the city.
Financial resources serving as the most important inhibitor, Mahan argued that the city could get closer to its objective of providing enough shelters if it focused on building provisional housing and that the county helped to exploit them.
In this year’s budget, San Jose allocated $ 220.4 million to homeless efforts, which represents around 3.5% of its budget.
San Jose is not the only big city in California to have challenged the role of its county in the fight against homelessness.
In January, the mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria, criticized the County of San Diego in his speech on the state of the city, claiming that the county was to fulfill his responsibility in the region.
“I hope that each time you see a person on the street with a mental illness or an extreme dependence you think of the County of San Diego and ask yourself when they intervene to provide the services they need to put an end to this crisis once and for all,” said Gloria.
Even before the bill had its first hearing, those responsible for the county of Santa Clara opposed it vehemently, which makes it fear that they lose autonomy on their finances in the city. The supervisor of the county of Santa Clara, Susan Ellenberg, qualified the emphasis on interim housing solutions of “short-term camouflage” and stressed that the construction of more housing was the best long-term solution to the problem of the homeless.
She added that Mahan had distorted the county’s investment in the full continuum of homeless solutions, which amounted to $ 435 million during the current financial year.
The California State Association of Counties has also opposed the bill, joining a coalition made up of California urban counties, rural representatives of California County, the health county of health directors and the Comté d’Association of well-being directors, and characterized it as “an erroneous approach that will exacerbate the homeless and redirect of security services for security services and security services most vulnerable ”. “”.
On Tuesday, the California State Association of Counties welcomed the amendments to the bill.
“The counties are ready to tackle the roaming crisis in depth by attacking the two fundamental problems with the current broken system: clear responsibilities for each level of government – state, city and county; And reliable funding so that local governments can follow what they start, “said CEO of California State Association of Counties, Graham Knaus. “We work with elected officials in both parties at the national and local levels to identify real solutions.”
The director of the county of Santa Clara, James R. Williams, also thanked the committee for the amendments and recognized the role that the counties play.
“We agree with the decision of the Senate according to which ultimately cities and counties should decide for themselves how to collaborate most effectively on solutions. This is the only way to be able to make real progress by finishing the homeless of the street. ”
In the meantime, with the requirement for sharing costs deleted, Mahan said that the bill had added another process requirement: a state analysis to reach a functional zero.
Although he called this progressing, Mahan deplored the decision, appealing to him “another progressive step which continues to leave other levels of government to act decisively so that everyone inside.”
California Daily Newspapers
