While Mayor Newsom held a press conference yesterday announcing the 2,000th person being housed under Care Not Cash, Religious Witness for Homeless People denounced the City’s crackdown on “quality-of-life” offenses. The interfaith group released a study showing that, in the past four years, the City has spent $7.8 million prosecuting such infractions. The Police, they argued, should focus their attention on homicides and other violent crimes – while the $7.8 million could have been used on more effective homeless outreach and social services. While the Newsom Administration has provided supportive housing for thousands of homeless people, they said, it has also cracked down on offenses like camping, sleeping, public urination and panhandling. This does nothing to solve homelessness other than move the “problem” to a different neighborhood.

“I want to emphasize,” said Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness, “that any person – homeless or otherwise – whose behavior poses a genuine threat to the health or safety of other individuals should be dealt with appropriately.” But, she added, the vast majority of homeless people are not a threat – they just have nowhere to sleep. As Richmond Police Officer John Andrews recently told the Chronicle, “90 percent of the homeless don’t cause any problems – 10 percent terrorize the neighborhood.”

Efforts to expand permanent supportive housing are worthy of praise, but that’s only half the story. “We are pursuing two policies simultaneously in opposite directions,” said Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan. “The City is trying to provide housing and care, while simultaneously criminalizing homelessness.” In the past four years, the City has issued 46,684 “quality-of-life” tickets – at a cost of $7.8 million to the City’s taxpayers. This does not get people off the streets and solves homelessness, said Galvin. It just moves the problem to different neighborhoods.

“A quality-of-life citation begins an extremely expensive process,” said Michael Bien. “It’s a process that includes police officers, police clerks, court commissioners and court deputies. Then there’s scheduling, copying, filing, data entry, testifying, booking, reporting and completing voluminous forms.” District Attorney Kamala Harris has made things worse, he said, by starting to staff infraction courts – beyond misdemeanors and felonies – which involves hiring D.A.’s and Public Defenders on each side. Once you “bring in the lawyers,” the costs go through the roof.


A prop shows the number of citations issued in the past four years, as well as the cost to City taxpayers.

And does using law enforcement resources help the homeless by getting them off the street? Not really. “This Administration has become addicted to using the police as social service agencies,” said Wolf-Prusan. “It is counter-productive, it has never worked and it will not work.” The $7.8 million, he added, could have paid for 492 people in supportive housing for a year, put 300 people in a three-month detox center, or paid for 113 psychiatric outreach workers.

The City recently created 21 new Homeless Outreach worker positions, who encourage homeless people to go to a shelter or else face arrest by the police. “Only 12 have been hired so far,” said John “Fitz” Fitzgerald, “and they were immediately sent to Golden Gate Park, which is not where the chronically homeless live.” Galvin added that the homeless outreach workers should be sent to neighborhoods like the Tenderloin or Bayview – where the homeless could be connected to social services.

But could expanded outreach workers actually help? Absolutely. By the City’s own estimates, 3,000 of the chronically homeless would qualify for Medi-Cal and federal SSI or SSDI benefits of up to $10,000 a year. But due to their medical condition they need assistance to guide them through that process. Getting them a steady income could help them get off the streets – and save the City the cost of having a police officer arrest them whenever they get caught camping in Golden Gate Park.

The Religious Witness report is the most comprehensive examination of how much money the City has been spending on arresting homeless people – rather than providing them with resources. The Newsom Administration deserves credit for the successes of Care Not Cash, as 2,000 people have been offered the dignity of a home with a lock and key. But by diverting resources away from intensive criminalization of those still sleeping in the streets, we could do even better.

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