Homelessness Initiative: Not Perfect But A Step Forward

Mike Gatto (Chron photo) 

A former Democratic assemblyman is organizing a November ballot initiative that will address the worst aspects of the California homelessness problem. The California Compassionate Intervention Act [bold added]

would call for the strict enforcement of “quality of life” laws, which deal with behavior such as public drunkenness or drug use and defecating in public. Offenders would be to be sent to special courts, where they could be sentenced to shelter programs or mandatory rehab.

Mike Gatto's measure would arrest individuals evincing those behaviors but not criminalize them:

Offenders would be to be sent to special courts, where they could be sentenced to shelter programs or mandatory rehab....Once a defendant has completed his sentence, his conviction would be expunged, so he would have no criminal record that might hinder him from getting a job, housing or public benefits.

Open drug use is a common sight on the streets of
San Francisco (Daily Mail)

Homeless advocates oppose the measure because of possible "mass institutionalization" and "racial and class disparities." The use of scare slogans indicates that, if the initiative qualifies for the ballot with at least 620,000 signatures, it is likely to pass:

A recent statewide poll by 3M Research found that 90% of the voters surveyed listed homelessness as the No. 1 problem facing the state — 87% of the voters in the Bay Area listed it as the top problem....The poll also found 73% of the voters support Gatto’s measure.

The devil is in the details and there will be unintended negative consequences. At the same time I am sure that passing this initiative will produce something better than what we've got.