San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Downtown residents—and their City Council representative Kevin Faulconer—wanted to know if there was some magic number of beds that would make it OK for cops to hand out tickets again. What if Downtown, which has the largest street-homeless population—at least 1,000—were to add 250 new shelter beds? Or 500?
Attorneys for the nine homeless plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit against the city in 2004 that led to the settlement repeatedly countered that there was no magic number: If there isn’t a place for a person to sleep, they argued, it’s cruel and unusual punishment to ticket (or jail) someone for fulfilling a biological need.
An amended version of the 2007 settlement, signed on Nov. 15 by U.S. Magistrate Judge William McCurine, provides a little clarity. Per the amended settlement, which went hand-in-hand with City Council approval to move ahead with putting a homeless-services center and 223 units of permanent and transitional housing Sixth Avenue and A Street, Downtown, a San Diego police officer can issue an illegal-lodging citation if:
• The officer finds someone sleeping on the street in the area bounded by Laurel Street to the north, Interstate 5 to the east, San Diego Bay to the west and Sigsbee Street in Barrio Logan to the south,
• The officer can point that person to a bed located within five miles of 25th and Market streets, and
• The person rejects the offer.
“If no shelter bed is available in the ‘Downtown Area,’ the settlement says, “or the individual is turned down by the services provider for an available bed,” the original terms of the settlement remain in effect.
The settlement also says that both parties will work to create a type of community court to “hear and determine issues” related to citations handed out under the amended agreement.
The catch is, rarely—if ever—are beds available.
According a report released last month by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, the county’s unsheltered population has increased by 16 percent in the last two years—from 3,856 people in 2008 to 4,599 in 2010. In San Diego, there’s a deficit of roughly 2,100 shelter beds; in Downtown alone, a street count conducted in September found roughly 1,000 people on the street.
The amendment, rather, clarifies the intent of the lawsuit, said Scott Dreher, one of two attorneys behind the 2004 lawsuit. “It gives the city the incentive to increase the number of beds,” he said.
