Santa Clara County critical of SJ mayor’s plan to arrest homeless people refusing shelter

DESPITE SAN JOSE MAYOR Matt Mahan’s claim his policy to arrest homeless people for refusing shelter is meant to connect them to treatment, there isn’t a plan for how it’s supposed to work.

Since Mahan rolled out his “Responsibility to Shelter” policy in March, Santa Clara County officials and a former judge have pushed back on the plan that citing homeless people for trespassing will get them connected to the county’s Behavioral Health Court and into treatment. Mahan wants people who refuse offers of shelter three times within 18 months to be arrested on trespassing charges, but state law prohibits holding those who commit nonviolent misdemeanor charges in custody. Homeless people will be released within hours or days, thus preventing them from connecting to treatment. Couple this with the county’s massive shortage of mental health treatment beds — and a lengthy waitlist for not just unhoused people — and the mayor’s plan is on thin ice.