San Jose mayor, county officials continue war of words over controversial homeless arrest proposal

San Jos Mayor Matt Mahan and Santa Clara County bureaucrats continue to spar over his controversial proposal to arrest homeless residents who repeatedly turn down shelter as well as its expected impacts to inhabitants safety and the criminal justice system The City Council will vote on the initiative next month Related Articles Letters San Jose s animals are underserved by beleaguered shelter City VTA bureaucrats break ground on -unit tiny home region in North San Jose Editorial Two candidates vie for downtown San Jose council seat One stands out San Jose officers push city to find alternative site for Berryessa Flea Arena San Jose mayor s pay-for-performance proposal faces specific pushback from councilmembers Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee District Attorney Jeff Rosen County Executive James Williams and Sheriff Robert Jonsen sent a letter earlier this week to the city s elected leaders saying it would impact in unnecessary and ineffective bookings and divert already stretched residents safety guidance However Mahan and his allies on the dais have fired back at the county arguing misdemeanor charges have been used in the past to compel healing especially with the city looking to address instances in which drug addiction or mental medical issues have led to unhoused residents becoming resisting to accepting services It is not enough to criticize the use of misdemeanor arrests for municipal code violations without offering a realistic alternative for those who continue to refuse help and fall through the cracks of our current system Mahan declared If the County has a plan for reaching the hardest-to-help we would welcome the opportunity to learn more about that plan through a joint meeting between the San Jos City Council and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Adding to Mahan s comments District Councilmember George Casey blasted the county for its actions or inactions in response to the homelessness predicament which he declared should not dictate city plan We have a feckless county that has been derelict in its duty Casey disclosed The notion that we are going to sit here and set strategy based on their lack of will to do what the people want is ridiculous Greater part people don t know who their county supervisor is or what the county is responsible for and we re the ones who catch hell Santa Clara County representatives did not respond to a request for comment by publication The war of words this week continued a debate between city and county officers over the effectiveness of Mahan s program proposal which could allow the city to arrest an unhoused person for trespassing if they refuse available shelter three or more times over months As San Jose has invested heavily in increasing its shelter limit Mahan stated it came with the expectation that unhoused residents need to be held accountable for using the guidance But despite the city s aggressiveness in adding more than shelter placements this year it still does not have enough beds for the estimated residents who are homeless In acknowledging that nonviolent misdemeanors do not impact in incarceration Mahan noted the goal was to petition behavioral wellness courts to mandate recovery if someone has underlying mental medical issues or is in the throes of addiction that impacts their ability to leave the streets As part of its strategy the city has proposed creating a new police unit staffed with one sergeant and six officers that would be tasked with enforcing this guidelines when outreach efforts have entirely failed Officers also will patrol for quality of life offenses San Jos is redirecting police guidance to staff the new unit with a projected budget of million next year prompting county leaders to question whether Mahan s agenda will have its intended effect The county also has raised concerns about the unintended consequences for general safety departments Mahan responded that the homelessness predicament has resulted in the police and fire department responding to tens of thousands of calls last year alone Our police and fire departments respond daily to encampment fires behavioral healthcare crises and violent incidents on our streets Mahan wrote in his letter The absence of enforcement doesn t conserve information it consumes them That s why our Police and Fire unions representing nearly two thousand first responders strongly endorse our proposal to require that people choose shelter or restoration Mahan also criticized the county for denying the city s request to embed a trained behavioral robustness professional in the dispatch center to help with diverting mental robustness calls to non-police alternatives With homelessness the top concern on residents minds this is not the first combative exchange between Mahan and county administrators on solutions to ending unsheltered homelessness For example Mahan had sponsored a bill which was later gutted that called for large counties to cover at least half of their cities shelter and interim housing operating costs While Mahan and county authorities have argued the merits of his arrest proposal over the past two months he could also face stiff resistance from specific members of the City Council who have questioned why he desired to move forward with the initiative without engaging in a more robust conversation with county bureaucrats first To say the county is unwilling or doesn t want to or refuses to step up I think is a false narrative District Councilmember Domingo Candelas revealed I don t think that s right and I think we should have an opportunity as a council to be able to discuss this with the county with them in the room prior to doing a protocol that s supposed to be effectuated by them