HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/13/2021 Item 2, DietrickFrom:Gonzalez, Maria
To:"fkopcinski@crla.org"
Cc:Dietrick, Christine; Smith, Jeff; Avakian, Greg; Horn, Matt; Carscaden, Doug; Johnson, Derek; Babak Naficy;
"lbuitrago@crla.org"; "ijacobs@crla.org"; "vescoto@crla.org"; Council_All; Agenda Correspondence Routing
Subject:CRLA Agenda Correspondence Response
Date:Tuesday, April 13, 2021 4:32:10 PM
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2021-04-13- Ltr to Kopcinski.pdf
Laird Cunnignham Letter.pdf
Mr. Kopcinski,
Please see attached correspondence from City Attorney, Christine Dietrick.
Thank you,
Maria Gonzalez
Contract Legal Assistant I
City Attorney's Office
990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249
E mgonzalez@slocity.org
slocity.org
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City of San Luis Obispo, City Attorney’s Office, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7140, slocity.org
April 13, 2021
Frank Kopcinski
Directing Attorney, CRLA-San Luis Obispo
fkopcinski@CRLA.org
805.544.7994 (ext. 1504)
RE: Response to “Request to Cease and Desist unlawful practices involving persons
experiencing homelessness at Mitchell Park and throughout the City and by the City
Police and Park Ranger Department.”
Dear Mr. Kopcinski:
The City of San Luis Obispo (the “City”) has received your “Cease-and-Desist letter”
regarding alleged City unlawful practices involving homelessness individuals, respectively
dated March 18, 2021 and your similar letter related to the April 13, 2021 Council agenda
items related to tent camping in City parks. The City has thoroughly evaluated your letter,
and its position is further explained below. In summary, the City disagrees that the City
conducts illegal practices and that it forces, threatens, and fails to ensure adequate shelter for
unhoused individuals before they are removed from their location of encampment. Moreover,
the City disagrees that its policy denies homeless individuals’ the right to equal protection of
the law. The City of San Luis Obispo has identified addressing homelessness as a Major City
Goal and has invested in providing outreach, advocacy, financial support, and other resources
to aid in transitioning individuals out of homelessness (please see attached letter to Senator
Laird and Assemblyman Cunningham).
In your March 18, 2021 letter, you state that San Luis Obispo police officers have used threats
of arrest and “carried out random searches and arrests of homeless individuals attempting to
set up tents or otherwise resting on the ground or on park benches.” You also mentioned that
“City Park Rangers” removed property of homeless individuals residing in encampments.
First, the City does not have “Park Rangers” who perform park cleanup activities or have
otherwise engaged in activity as you described. Our Ranger staff primarily support our natural
and open space areas and do not patrol or conduct maintenance or enforcement activities in
the traditional City parks. Second, there is no ordinance or interpretative memo that prohibits
daytime usage of the park for sleeping or resting on the ground. As to the reports of arrests
that you are referring to, there have been no arrests solely related to tent use. Arrests of any
kind have been rare during COVID and those that have been conducted related to outstanding
warrants or serious criminal conduct unrelated to housing or social status.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued helpful guidance for protecting
vulnerable unhoused populations during COVID-19. The City and County has used this
guidance by following the “whole community” approach to prevention and care for the
unsheltered community. The CDC guidelines advise that when individual housing options are
not available to people living unsheltered or in encampments, that they should remain where
they are. However, space is available at our local shelters. Our County’s shelters have utilized
a myriad of safety precautions with extraordinary success in protecting the health and welfare
of shelter residents, and the City is offering indoor shelter and access to hygienic resources to
those living in unsafe and unsanitary outdoor conditions. We have and will continu e to follow
CDC guidelines and the whole community approach in our continued attempts to connect our
unhoused residents with shelter and supportive services designed to assist our fellow
community members to transition out of homelessness.
You also contended in your March 18, 2021 letter that the City violated “numerous provisions
of the United States and California Constitutions, and numerous state and federal statutes.”
As such, you cited Martin v. City of Boise claiming that the City was violating the Eighth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As you may be aware, Martin dealt with criminal
enforcement against individuals with no other available alternatives to sleeping on public
property. The holding of that case was that, “the Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition
of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lyin g outside on public property for homeless
individuals who cannot obtain shelter.” The court explicitly clarified,
Our holding is a narrow one. Like the Jones panel, “we in no way dictate to the City
that it must provide sufficient shelter for the homeless , or allow anyone who wishes to
sit, lie or sleep in the streets… at any time and at any place.” Id. At 1138. We hold
only that “so long as there is a greater number of homeless individuals in [a
jurisdiction] than the number of available beds [in shelters],” the jurisdiction cannot
prosecute homeless individuals for involuntarily sitting, lying, and sleeping in public.
Id.
Even where shelter is unavailable, an ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping
outside at particular times or in particular locations might well be constitutionally
permissible. See Jones, 444 F.3d at 1123. So, too, might an ordinance barring the
obstruction of public rights of way or the erection of certain structures. Whether some
other ordinance is consistent with the Eighth Amendment will depend, as here, on
whether it punishes a person for lacking the means to live out the “universal and
unavoidable consequences of being human” in the way the ordinance prescribes. Id. at
1136.
The City does not have, or enforce, any blanket regulations against individuals sitting,
sleeping, or lying on public property at all times, in all places, similar to those regulations at
issue in Martin. The City can and will enforce reasonable time, place and manner prohibitions
of activities and behaviors that adversely impact public health, safety, or welfare, while
continuing to work with the County to provide supportive services and shelter and use City
funding to advance housing opportunities for our unhoused residents.
Similarly, in Blake v. City of Grants Pass, the court issued an injunctive relief following the
passage of several ordinances prohibiting sleeping on public property, overnight parking of
vehicles, camping, and even potentially being in a park depending on the number of citations
previously received. In addition, these blanket ordinances, the City of Grants Pass, Oregon,
did not have a homeless shelter and the court cited to a record of public meetings replete with
evidence of intent to criminalize, rather than assist, the homeless individuals in that
jurisdiction. The facts of the case that that supported the plaintiff’s success in obtaining an
injunctive relief stand in stark contrast to the City’s and the approach of that city simply is not
fairly comparable to the City of San Luis Obispo. Here, there is a shelter within the City that
routinely has available beds at night and has the benefit of an operational warming and cooling
center. The City has continuously funded and recently expanded safe parking sites; and the
city has no blanket restriction on sleeping, sitting, or lying on public property; the city provides
garbage service at certain encampment locations; the city and Transitions Mental Health
Association (THMA) partner to provide a full time social worker dedicated to supporting this
population; and the City has provided 24 hour accessible restroom and sanitation stations at
various locations in the City. Additionally, as discussed, services are frequently provided to
unsheltered individuals to ensure that they may “conduct the life sustaining activities of
resting, sleeping, and seeking shelter from the elements while living” in San Luis Obispo
without a permanent home. Blake v. City of Grants Pass Case No. 1:18-CV-01823-CL at 1.
The City disagrees that it forces, threatens, and fails to ensure adequate shelter for unhoused
individuals, including those who are disabled, before they are removed from their location of
encampment. The City continuously works in partnership with various programs and
organizations such as the City’s Community Action Team (CAT), Community Action
Partnership of San Luis Obispo County (CAPSLO) and (THMA ,) to provide assistance and
services to unhoused people, including two of CRLAs clients who have filed claims against
the City, to whom I presume you may be referring.
Following are some facts related to one of your disabled clients to who I presume you are
referring. On October 19, 2020, the City of San Luis Obispo conducted an encampment
cleanup along the City’s stretch of the Bob Jones Trail, in an effort to extraordinary
accumulations of trash and paraphernalia and other public health, safety and environmental
concerns at the sites. This cleanup was preceded by significant notification and outreach and
multiple offers of services and shelter assistance by the San Luis Obispo Police
Department/CAT Team, City Rangers, a THMA Social Worker who works with the Police
Department, and other social service providers, including CAPSLO. One of the City’s main
goals in those efforts was to connect individuals to services and support to any willing
unhoused individuals who might be dislocated as the result of the cleanup, including CRLA’s
clients.
The disabled client to whom you letter seems to refer claims that she was forced to move from
the location at which she was camping on October 19, 2020, and that she was not given enough
time to store or move her belongings. Our records reflect that your client was contacted and
given notice on two previous occasions before the removal of her property, the first of which
was on September 9, 2020. Five camps were served with a Notice of Removal on this day,
and one of the camps was your client’s, who was present and was served with this Notice by
a San Luis Obispo City Police Officer. On October 8, 2020, although she was not present,
your client’s camp was noticed again about the upcoming cleanup. Your client was served
and aware of the Notice of Removal order and her camp was properly posted with a notice
well in advance of the scheduled cleanup and in a time frame that provided her ample time to
identify personal belonging in need of storage and well prior to any move necessitated by the
cleanup.
On October 19, 2020, the day of the cleanup, City Rangers became aware that your client and
her son Hans had just started to pack their belongings and provided them several additional
hours to pack. Additionally, on this day, a social worker with the City took the initiative of
making several phone calls to THMA that morning, to ensure adequate shelter for your client
and her son. Through his diligent efforts, I am advised that our social worker was able to
secure an immediate placement in a two-bedroom apartment in Atascadero for your client and
her son. When this individual housing resource was offered to your client and her son, I am
further advised that she declined the housing and stated, “I don’t like Atascadero.” If your
client’s preference was to remain in SLO, 40 Prado also had 16 beds available at that time,
which was apparently also not acceptable to your client. In this context, the alleged City
practice of “force, threat, and failure to ensure adequate shelter for unhous ed individuals
before they are removed from their location of encampment” simply is not supported by fact.
Refusing services is not the same as services not being made available to those who wish to
utilize them. The City can offer support and services; it cannot compel adults to accept those
resources. Having declined those services offered, I am not aware of legal authority that holds
that an individual thereafter has an unfettered right, constitutional or otherwise, to reside
unregulated on public property not intended or suitable for safe and sanitary human habitation.
The City is aware that homelessness is one of the most heartbreaking and complicated issues
facing our community and the City has been and remains committed to working
collaboratively with all willing community partners to support our current unhoused residents
and address the impacts of homelessness and encampment living on those directly affected
individuals and our entire community. As we have previously informed you of, the agency
that receives direct funding to coordinate and provide social and mental health services to
people experiencing homelessness is the County itself; the City is not a direct social services
provider and does not receive direct state and federal assistance for those purposes. The City
plans to continue to direct funding toward homeless services, housing and shelter
opportunities, and other assistance in the coming years. We firmly believe that more can be
accomplished with the collaboration with, rather than opposition from, organizations like
California Rural Legal Assistance, and any other organization that shares the City’s dedication
to and investment in helping individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness in the
City of San Luis Obispo.
We look forward to working with you toward supporting our homeless residents and
protecting the health, safety and welfare of our entire community.
Sincerely,
Christine Dietrick
City Attorney
CC: City Council
M
March 26, 2021
Office of the City Manager
990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249
809.781.7114
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The Honorable Senator John Laird
1026 Palm Street, Suite 201
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
California State Senate State Capitol Building, Room 4040
Sacramento, CA 95814
The Honorable Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham
1304 Broad Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0035
RE: City of SLO Homeless Challenges and State Funding Request
Dear Honorable Senator Laird and Assembly Member Cunningham:
The purpose of this letter is to request additional state funding for homeless services in the next state
budget and to follow up with information from our March 25, 2021 Zoom meeting.
There have been many co -impacts from COVID-19 and homelessness is one of the gravest and most visible
impacts facing our communities. Given the existing unsheltered and mental health crises, it is no surprise
that the Community Priorities Survey conducted for the City of San Luis Obispo's 2021-2023 Financial Plan
identified Homelessness as the top priority. Accordingly, the City Council set Housing and Homelessness
as a Major City Goal at their January 2021 Community Forum and plan to include key pilot programs and
budget items in our forthcoming financial plan.
As we are all aware, the County is the agency that receives direct funding to coordinate and provide social
and mental health services for our community. The City of San Luis Obispo continues to direct general
fund dollars toward homeless services to leverage the outcomes of the County's regional efforts and
maximize internal City Resources to meet many unmet needs. This investment is updated for the public
and depicted on an informational graphic on the City's website and linked below. 1
Currently, the City invests over $747,000 for six Police Department personnel dedicated to the downtown
area for homeless outreach, including four bicycle officers, one sergeant, and one non -sworn field
technician. Nearly 20% of all calls for Police services were homeless related over the past few years.
Our Ranger Services and Public Works Departments reported a total of $679,000 is being spent annually
on clean up and maintenance activities. Additionally, the Fire Department reported a total of 32
encampment fires and 516 medical incidents at the end of last year.
As homelessness in the community persists, the City has had to advance strategies to meet ongoing
challenges to fill social service needs. Our community is demanding that the City step in given the
circumstances.
1 https:/Imww.slocity.org/living/neighborboodlhomelessness-solutions
Office of the City Manager
990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249
805.781,7114
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The Community Action Team (CAT) was developed by the San Luis Obispo Police Department originally
consisting of two police officers. In 2018, the CAT team was augmented with a social services worker
through Transitions -Mental Health Association (TMHA) to improve outcomes for homeless individuals.
Over the last year, CAT engaged with over 500 people and of those, 127 were treated for mental health,
substance abuse, or other issues. CAT also connects people with resources to find shelter and other
services. This program currently costs $376,724 and is proposed to expand with the anticipated added
cost of $125,188 by the addition of a second social worker to support the City's Major City Goal.
A companion program called the Mobile Crises Unit is also being developed, at a cost of $300,000, to pair
a crisis social services worker with a City Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to provide non -emergency
response and care to unhoused community members. This novel pilot program is intended to be
replicable and scalable for other agencies in the future. The Cities of Los Angeles and Oakland are other
California examples that are currently launching similar programs.
As approved by the City Council in December 2020, approximately $300,000 will be used for the hire of a
new Homelessness Response Manager, a professional staff member who will manage communications,
data collection, agency collaboration and continued coordination efforts across all departments over the
next two years. In addition, this senior level staff member will be engaging in regional efforts to coordinate
the provision of services across the County of San Luis Obispo and be a strong advocate for increased
action by the County.
In addition to the ongoing Safe Parking Program at the County's 40 Prado Homeless Services Center, the
City has developed a Safe Parking Program at Railroad Square and programed it to remain available to the
public for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In support of key non-profit human health service providers, the City provides direct funding to non-profit
social service providers through its Grants -in -Aid program, which will see increased funding for Fiscal Years
2019-20 and 2020-21 for a total of $150,000 annually. The Community Action Partnership of San Luis
Obispo County (CAPSLO) also received a total of $157,000 from the City's General Fund in 2019-20 and
2020-21 to support ongoing programs and operational efforts at the 40 Prado Homeless Services Center.
The 40 Prado Homeless Services Center is an overnight shelter with services including up to 100 beds for
in -county individuals and families. Going forward, a 25% expansion of beds at the 40 Prado center is
proposed, and if approved would require an additional General Fund allocation from the City of $63,826
annually to support.
On March 17, 2021, the County's Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC) advised the County Board
of Supervisors to promote several recommendations to address the increase of homeless encampments
in SLO County, by prioritizing the needs of the unhoused population. The five recommendations included
1) provision of showers and laundry services for encampments, 2) the authorization of sanctioned
encampments, 3) additional safe parking programs, 4) alternative temporary shelter structures, and 5) a
permanent shelter in the South County. Upon consideration of the recommendations by the Board, the
City will evaluate any necessary actions to consider the appropriateness of the recommendations for our
community.
Office of the City Manager
990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249
805 781,7114
slocity,o%fq
According to the San Luis Obispo County Point -In -Time Homeless Census & Survey Report completed in
January of 2019, an estimated 1,483 individuals are experiencing homelessness with 482 of those
individuals living in the City of San Luis Obispo. The per -capita rate of homelessness in our County exceeds
the per capita rate throughout California and many urbanized areas. This data was collected prior to
COVID-19, which we have witnessed has exacerbated the issue in all jurisdictions. The core of our
community and the dedication of City resources shows that we are focused on compassion and
accountability. The City has invested in providing outreach, financial support, and alternatives to help
people transition out of homelessness. The City is also committed to the quality of life and safe use of
public amenities for all residents, businesses, and visitors and the City must utilize all available tools to
prevent and address adverse public behaviors that have negative effects on our community.
Understandably and unfortunately, state directed funding appears to favor urbanized areas even though
urbanized cities within rural counties appear to have similar or even greater challenges with
homelessness.
We greatly appreciate your attention and support of initiatives that can help our region effectively address
the challenges ahead. Overall, a coordinated regional approach lead by the County of San Luis Obispo is
desired and expected to be the most effective vehicle to address the challenge. Support from all local
elected leaders and State government will be essential to create a positive outcome for our community,
including our unhoused residents.
Many of the proposals that are originating from the City in our budget that takes effect on July 1, 2021 -
if adopted by the City Council - will help with the dire challenges. However, the proposed funding to
expand the homeless services shelter beds, mobile crisis unit, and safe parking program are derived from
one time funding sources. As a result, they are "pilot" in nature, and will need long-term funding to be
sustained. We will be monitoring and reporting on the outcomes of City -led pilot programs and will be
deeply engaged with our County and other regional partners in support of programs that fulfill the
objective of reducing homelessness and its impact on our communities.
The City of San Luis Obispo is requesting that our state legislators consider additional funding to help
provide services and much needed housing and wrap around services for our City and region, with
provisions that ensure funding provided to Counties is allocated in partnerships with the cities that are
most impacted.
Thank you for your consideration on this matter.
Be t regards,
Der l 03 hnson
City anager
CC: Mayor and Council
Board of Supervisors
Wade Horton, County Administrative Officer
Biz Steinberg, CEO, CAPSLO
Jill Bolster -White, CEO, TMHA