An attempt by the San Joaquin County Health Care Services Agency to form a Housing and Homelessness Services Division this week was shut down — at least for now — by members of the county’s Board of Supervisors following very different viewpoints on the topic.
The purpose of the division would have been to have a more focused homelessness department tackling the crisis in the county.
A homeless leadership forum was held in August this year where county stakeholders gathered to assess the current state of homelessness and provide recommendations for effective services to help the unsheltered.
In total, nine recommendations from the forum were formed and presented to the board Tuesday, but only one motion was accepted — creating a committee comprised of supervisors and representatives from local cities to be involved in the actions and interests of any new department tasked with homelessness response.
‘We need to dial back’
The motion was approved in a 3-2 vote with supervisors Steven Ding, Robert Rickman and Tom Patti voting yes.
Supervisors agreed that a housing and homeless services division should be created. However, some felt that the proposal needed to be reined in with more focus and adjustments before moving forward.
“I feel as though we need to dial back. We need to talk about what our next steps are going forward,” Patti said.
Some supervisors noted that a large amount of money has already been spent on the problem without any long-lasting improvements.
Ding said he didn’t believe the county has a money issue when it comes to homelessness. Instead, he believes it’s a policy and directional problem.
“One of them (issues) we addressed earlier was the cap on bed and mental health facilities, having the hands of our law enforcement tied, different policy issues that need to be changed,” Ding said.
Rickman, the board chair, agreed with Ding, questioning how much more money it would take to solve the homeless crisis.
“In the last two years we spent what over $200 million I believe it was … and I agree with Supervisor Ding,” said Rickman.“Over $200 million in this county alone and then you’re looking at some of the proposals here and you’re talking about increasing taxes, parcel tax, sales tax, and if $200 million hasn’t solved it do you think just throwing money at the problem is going to really make more of a difference?”
He said he has an issue with raising more taxes when residents are already struggling to pay for groceries.
Supervisor Paul Canepa, who wanted the proposal to be accepted fully, said he was kind of disappointed.
“This dollar amount he is talking about transferring is chump change in the grand scheme of things, so why you wouldn’t give this chance is ludicrous,” Canepa said.
Some of the items supervisors would like to know more about before they approve would be creating a budget to support an encampment response team and pulling money from the county budget to pay for other costs.
