![]() ![]() This week, a 59-year-old woman who didn’t want to be identified had received her third citation for encroachment in the past eight months. Officers arrested six unhoused people for encroachment - an offense that was originally intended for trash cans blocking a sidewalk. Inewsource reporters went to the East Village on multiple mornings in May and June to witness police interact with homeless people while city employees cleaned their encampments. “I cannot let folks take advantage of San Diego’s deep (well) of compassion for this issue and wave away the help that they’re offered and the services that we’re providing, because sometimes they’re more comfortable on the streets and don’t want to take action to change their situation,” Gloria said. Gloria acknowledged the housing crisis, saying part of the problem is “the rent’s too damn high,” and that many people living on the streets aren’t there due to illness or bad choices, but because they “are simply poor.” The number of people living on the streets of San Diego has increased roughly 10% in two years - up from at least 2,283 in 2020 to 2,494 earlier this year, according to the homeless census, which is considered an undercount. ![]() (Zoë Meyers/inewsource)Īrrests and citations for these crimes are nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, but this action is coming at a time when experts are bracing for the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, and not long after San Diego was given the title of least affordable housing market in the nation. ![]() Warren Zevon Riddle packs up his belongings during an enforcement sweep on Commercial Street in San Diego, June 9, 2022. On the other hand, advocates have argued, and research has found, this approach isn’t effective. “If they don’t want to use them, it’s a free country, I understand that,” he said. The city has taken this approach to get people off the street and into a shelter system that is regularly 93% occupied, with the ultimate goal of moving people into permanent housing.Īs long as shelter beds are available, police will continue enforcing laws that prohibit homeless people from blocking a sidewalk or sleeping somewhere they shouldn’t, Gloria said during a Monday press conference. This is the result of Mayor Todd Gloria’s latest push for “progressive enforcement,” which penalizes homeless people for not accepting shelter. Mayor Todd Gloria said solving homelessness is the city’s top priority.
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