Every Monday I find my neighbor’s ER at the end of my driveway – the Sunday edition. He peruses it from front to back before rolling it back up and depositing it under my mail box on his way around the block. I always give the comics a good scan before folding the whole thing into a stack in the garage. I usually end up reading the rest when I spread it out under the cat dishes.
Last weekend (9/8) Wolcott published a whole section on homelessness. Most of it was picked up from other newspapers. One article that caught my eye was from the Bay Area News Group, about a new ordinance in San Mateo County. “Where refusing shelter bed is a crime...”
I feel that title is misleading, and furthers the notion that anyone trying to enforce existing laws regarding illegal camping and trespassing is “criminalizing homelessness“.
“Earlier this year, the county [of San Mateo] adopted an ordinance that allows officials to cite and arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse a shelter bed.” Read further – campers have to be not only warned that a camp site is illegal, but given two written warnings after that before they can be cited.
The county has also implemented “CARE court” as an alternative to jail time.
“CARE Court allows family members, close friends, first responders, behavioral health providers, and others to refer people to enter the program, either by contacting county officials or filing a petition directly with the court. A judge can then order participants to enroll in tailored treatment plans, which may include placement in mental health facilities or permanent supportive housing.“
Having dealt with friends and family members suffering mental health crises, addiction, homelessness, and constant interactions with law enforcement, I’d like to see how an ordinance like this would work in Chico/Butte County. But “disability rights advocates have argued that CARE Court is a punitive solution that strips people of their civil rights.”
I don’t agree. I think allowing people to live in a state of filth and mental illness alongside a busy street is horrible, save me your little speech about civil rights.
Ironically, the article reports that only about 114 of the county’s estimated 2,130 homeless people live in the county, and most of them live in vehicles, which are not subject to the ordinance. Unless the vehicle becomes inoperative or unsafe for the road, or the registration expires, at which time the person becomes subject not only to vehicle safety ordinances (towing) but the shelter ordinance as well.
I’m reminded that Butte County, population roughly 201,000, has a homeless population estimated at 1250 persons, county wide. Meanwhile, San Mateo County has over 700,000 population, but only 2,130 homeless? What is Butte County doing wrong?
The state has called for all California counties to set up CARE court by 2024. Last year KRCR reported that “Butte County says it’s on track to implement CARE Court by Dec. 1 of next year [2024], but according to Behavioral Health Department director Scott Kennelly, he can’t guarantee the county will be at the full staffing levels likely required by the program by then.” I don’t think anything has changed, Kennelly was just on the news again recently complaining about funding and staffing shortages.
I don’t know how San Mateo funds their mental health facilities or their permanent supportive housing. Here’s a question – do they send them to Butte County? Cause historically, that’s been how Butte County funds the Behavioral Health Department, by selling “beds” to other counties and cities around the state.
Wouldn’t it be better if Butte County got on the sending end instead the receiving end of these programs?
Chico Taxpayers Association 