SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Homeless and housing is going to be a major focus as this new legislative session kicks off. The new Republican leader in the State Senate, San Diego Senator Brian Jones, introduced a bill that would ban homeless encampments near sensitive areas like schools and parks across the state.
Jones wanted to make it clear, while this bill would make it a crime to camp near those sensitive areas, it’s up to the cities if they want to take action on it.
"It actually does apply statewide, but it's it's not a mandate," Jones said. "It's a law enforcement tool, a county health department tool, that they can use if they so choose to use it, but there's nothing in the bill that would compel them to do so."
It’s something local cities run by Democrats, like Los Angeles and Sacramento, have already done.
“The homeless crisis is not a partisan issue. It wasn't caused by Republicans or Democrats necessarily. It's not going to be solved by republicans acting alone," Jones said. "Actually, our bill is crafted somewhat after the Los Angeles ordinance that was passed earlier in the year."
As he was campaigning for the November election, Jones said homeless camps was the number one issue voters wanted to talk to him about.
“This is to give counties and local jurisdictions the ability to keep at least a certain part of their community safe," Jones said, "And I think we got to keep our children safe as they're going to school, as they're using public libraries, going to parks, and community centers.”
California Homeless Union Attorney Anthony Prince is not buying it.
“A political device to make it appear that as a class of people, people who are unhoused are by their nature, a dangerous threat to children, threat to property, again, the statistics don't bear it out, and we never see the figures," Prince said. "We hear people ‘oh, someone got mad at me. Somebody threw something at me, and they're homeless. Therefore do we criminalize the entire population of unhoused people', it's no more acceptable than saying, 'oh, an African American person committed a crime. Therefore, we need to impose specific restrictions against the African American community'.”
Prince said it will do nothing to solve the underlying issue.
“We're not here to say let the camps exist, let people be in the streets. That's not what our union is about," Prince said. "However, until such time as the state of California and the cities and counties make the determination that they absolutely have to stop this death in the streets by providing durable safe housing, then we feel the obligation on the cities and counties is not to tear down these encampments.”
Prince is not denying that there are camps where criminal activity occurs, but he said those who are not homeless commit crimes at higher rates.
Jones agrees this won’t solve the problem.
“We're not going to get one solution, and we really need to shift our attitude about that, and expecting there to be one solution," Jones said. "This is just one solution to keep a particular part of our neighborhoods safe."
In the bill, Jones emphasizes that any camp near these sensitive areas needs to be given clear notice at least three days in advance that they are breaking the law before any action can be taken.
Prince is not denying that there are camps where criminal activity occurs. But he said those who are not homeless commit crimes at higher rates.
In the bill, Jones emphasized that any camp near these sensitive areas needs to be given clear notice at least three days in advance that they are breaking the law before any action can be taken.
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