THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS needs county outreach staff to search out out whether or not unhoused folks “have roots” in San Joaquin County earlier than providing them companies — and to relocate these they decide aren’t from right here.
In a unanimous vote, supervisors directed county workers final month to draft insurance policies requiring outreach staff to prioritize a “Re-Unification Return to Home Approach” as a primary step when serving to homeless people. However what precisely which means is unclear.
“We want to take care of our natives,” Supervisor Tom Patti, who represents the western portion of the county, informed Stocktonia by telephone. “People that come here, that have origins here.”
Forward of the Nov. 12 vote, Patti and Supervisor Paul Canepa of Stockton argued in a letter to the board that, amid restricted county assets, honing in on unhoused residents’ origins will assist “provide permanent solutions to those most in need, specifically long-term residents.”
They proposed prioritizing “a warm handoff (of unhoused people) to family and friends … both locally and for those that need one-way transportation to their place of origin.”
Patti described the present strategy as “facilitating and giving people tents, and bringing them boxes of goodies, and helping them stay in place.”
When requested if folks experiencing homelessness have the identical proper as housed folks to maneuver to San Joaquin County, Patti didn’t instantly tackle the query.
“If somebody’s housed, that’s fine,” he stated in response. “If they’re living on a levee … that’s not housed.”
Following precedent
Patti pointed to San Joaquin County’s latest new regulation in opposition to tenting, handed after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority discovered that barring tenting in cities with out sufficient shelter beds doesn’t depend as “cruel and unusual punishment” underneath the Structure.
The District 3 supervisor says he modeled the November proposal on an government directive San Francisco Mayor London Breed made in August. It ordered “all relevant departments and service providers” to increase relocation help “before any other service or shelter is offered.”
Ninety % of unhoused folks in San Joaquin County have been dwelling right here after they grew to become homeless, the 2024 Level in Time Depend survey discovered. Counties are federally required to depend and accumulate knowledge on their homeless populations each two years.
“If somebody’s housed, that’s fine. If they’re living on a levee … that’s not housed.”
Supervisor Tom Patti
Practically 75% of unhoused folks have been dwelling within the county for 4 years or much less after they grew to become homeless, the survey discovered. 5- to nine-year county residents made up simply 15%, and people a decade or extra about 11%.
Patti’s and Canepa’s pitch didn’t clarify what requirements or paperwork officers would use to outline who’s native and who isn’t. The Nov. 12 vote directed county division heads to draft extra particular language to carry again to the board, the letter reveals. No timeline for doing so was offered.
Final week, Patti steered a neighborhood may very well be outlined as somebody with relations or kids within the county. However he stated he doesn’t assume there may be some “set formula” for the way residency shall be decided or what is going to occur to those that refuse to go away the county.
“Anything we do is more discretionary than hardcore enforcement,” Patti added. “We’re not going to send someone out of town against their will.”
Offering choices to being unsheltered
On the identical time, the board has proven a robust curiosity in giving the unhoused different out of doors dwelling choices. Supervisors are scheduled to vote at their Dec. 10 assembly on whether or not to purchase the closed Oakmoore Golf Course on Wilson Manner in Stockton as a “safe camping” web site for unhoused individuals who choose to dwell in tents slightly than shelters.
In conferences with county officers who are available in contact with the unhoused, Patti stated he discovered that the county had solely been in a position to reunite three folks with their households over six months.
Supervisor Canepa stated reunification efforts aren’t at all times profitable and that some unhoused folks, resembling these being launched from jail, lack the cash or transportation they should get house.
Sheriff Patrick Withrow stated social service staff attempt to work with inmates properly earlier than their launch dates to attempt to make sure they don’t develop into homeless.
This story initially appeared in Stocktonia.
