The cities prohibiting homeless services worsen the California crisis

By Jed Lino, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

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The word “accountability” continues to be thrown in every direction when it comes to solving homelessness.

The Governor’s Bureau bill, Senate Bill 634 From the state sowns. Sasha Renee PerezIt will be a step forward in the detention of local jurisdictions responsible for dealing with homelessness, stopping cities from not pursuing critical, supportive services – along with people who take on the difficult task of helping people who are not smooth.

In his efforts to keep the cities responsible, Gavr Gavin News has reasoned for the top of the oldest actors at the local level – from the city of Turlok, who refused to do $ 1 for local funding To unlock the basic state funding to maintain an existing shelter open in the city of Norual, which seeks to prohibit support housing and shelters in violation of state and federal legislation. Fortunately, a State lawscaus forced employees there to retreatS

I saw the whole spectrum of local efforts for homelessness – positive and negative – in my role as a member of the Clermont Municipal Council, chairman of the regional residential trust in San Gabriel Valley and a member of the Board of the La County Housing Agency.

Some localities are good participants, trying to solve the problem, but there are no tools and partnerships needed to be effective. Some are bad actors, turning a homelessness policy into an accusation for people who cannot afford a home – suggesting that the problem is that they are visible, not that they are not not -blasted.

State leaders’ accountability means continuing to provide desperate funding for residential and supportive services to help us return our homeless neighbors to homes. City accountability means at the most basic level, which allows these rescue, supportive services to reach people who are experiencing homelessness on our streets.

Despite the ranks of evidence that the criminalization of homelessness not only fails to solve the problem but actually prolongs homelessness And it worsens that some cities are even trying to criminalize basic support services that help people survive the streets and return them to homes.

In February Fremont suggested criminalization of people who “help and to be subjected to stray camps, as if social workers and good Samaritans, distributing sandwiches, were driving the car to escape into bank robbery. Drawer., Santa Anna Other cities have also tried it.

This makes SB 634 even more critical. As Trump’s administration presses cities To take more dragon tactics, the bill will outline a line so that cities cannot prohibit the provision of basic information and supportive services to people who are experiencing homelessness.

These services combined with access to homes that are available-after all, are the only long-term solution to homelessness. Everything else is just a game of shells.

Cities can and should do more. They must introduce zoning, which facilitates the construction of homes and shelters at affordable prices. They must partner with counties to make sure that behavioral health services are accessible to the people who are looking for them. The list of best practices continues.

At least, they should not prohibit the services needed to deal with homelessness for which Newsom is constantly providing funding. The governor must take these unwavering cities to set and sign SB 634.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.