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June 12, 2023

Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilmembers

City of San Diego

RE: Amendments to the San Diego Municipal Code Related to Unauthorized Camping or Encampments on Public Property - Agenda Item #613 for June 13, 2023 Special Meeting

Dear Mayor Gloria and Councilmembers,

We are writing to urge this city council to reject the proposed amendments to the San Diego Municipal Code related to unauthorized camping or encampments on public property. Not only does the LWV California have a Homelessness Action Policy, but our Leagues’ Housing and Homelessness Committee recently completed an in-depth review of the benefits and disadvantages of camping bans in other communities. In 2018, we completed a study on homelessness in the county and adopted a homelessness position, which recommends the following strategies:

• Rescission by local jurisdictions and San Diego County of policies, practices, regulations and laws that criminalize, penalize, or permit the harassment of homeless persons for engaging in necessary life activities in public spaces (ie., sleeping, standing, camping, etc.); 

• Provision of facilities to meet the needs of those who are homeless for personal hygiene, storage, and trash removal, as well as safe spaces for tents, cars or recreational vehicles used for sleeping.

As members of the San Diego region’s academic community also explained in their May 18th letter, there is no evidence that banning camping achieves anything beyond forcing the homeless to seek other places to live and sleep. This, in turn, leads to more tickets and increased criminalization of those who have no other place to go.

Furthermore, the City cannot currently meet the need for emergency shelter beds. In Martin v. Boise, the court ruled that cities must provide a safe place to sleep if camping is prohibited.  A humane plan would include matching of a suitable emergency shelter appropriate to a person’s needs and immediate  transportation for the individual and his/her personal belongings to the alternate site. 

To be sure,  the City must address the problems now faced by all residents living near homeless encampments. We urge you to carefully study the Houston Homeless Encampment Response Strategy. There is a proven way to work on closing encampments, but it requires intensive and coordinated planning with support from various government and community groups. The Houston plan is focused on moving every person in a camp to some form of permanent housing. It achieved fine results because everyone bought into the plan and followed the script. Surely this is something San Diego can do.

Sincerely,