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

San Jos Mayor Matt Mahan and Santa Clara County personnel continue to spar over his controversial proposal to arrest homeless residents who repeatedly turn down shelter as well as its foreseen impacts to general 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 administrators 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 authorities push city to find alternative site for Berryessa Flea Realm San Jose mayor s pay-for-performance proposal faces certain 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 outcome in unnecessary and ineffective bookings and divert already stretched populace 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 remedy especially with the city looking to address instances in which drug addiction or mental physical condition 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 disclosed 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 emergency which he disclosed should not dictate city protocol We have a feckless county that has been derelict in its duty Casey revealed The notion that we are going to sit here and set approach based on their lack of will to do what the people want is ridiculous Majority 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 administrators did not respond to a request for comment by publication The war of words this week continued a debate between city and county personnel over the effectiveness of Mahan s procedures 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 threshold Mahan noted it came with the expectation that unhoused residents need to be held accountable for using the information 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 outcome in incarceration Mahan explained the goal was to petition behavioral soundness courts to mandate rehabilitation 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 plan when outreach efforts have perfectly 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 framework will have its intended effect The county also has raised concerns about the unintended consequences for inhabitants safety departments Mahan responded that the homelessness situation 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 robustness crises and violent incidents on our streets Mahan wrote in his letter The absence of enforcement doesn t conserve guidance 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 healing Mahan also criticized the county for denying the city s request to embed a trained behavioral physical condition professional in the dispatch center to help with diverting mental vitality calls to non-police alternatives With homelessness the top concern on residents minds this is not the first combative exchange between Mahan and county functionaries 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 bureaucrats have argued the merits of his arrest proposal over the past two months he could also face stiff resistance from selected members of the City Council who have questioned why he craved to move forward with the initiative without engaging in a more robust conversation with county executives 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 disclosed 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 guidelines that s supposed to be effectuated by them