Silicon Valley city makes homeless people eligible for arrest if they
refuse 3 offers of shelter
[June 11, 2025]
By JANIE HAR
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Homeless people who reject three offers of shelter
will be eligible for arrest on trespassing after the San Jose City
Council voted Tuesday for a policy change they hope will encourage
unhoused people to trade in their tents on sidewalks for beds indoors.
The vote was 9-2 in favor of adding a “responsibility to shelter”
provision to the city's encampment code of conduct, which also includes
expectations that homeless people will not pitch tents near schools and
playgrounds or block public rights of way.
The proposal by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahon is eye-opening because it
comes from a liberal city headed by a Democrat in the left-leaning San
Francisco Bay Area. It is among the stricter anti-encampment deterrents
proposed by elected officials since the Supreme Court in 2023 made it
easier to ban homeless people from camping on public property.
It is also another sign of just how frustrated people have become with
squalid tents lining sidewalks and riverbanks, and erratic behavior of
those using drugs or in psychiatric distress in a state with an
estimated 187,000 people in need of housing. California has roughly a
quarter of all homeless people in the country.
Mahan says most people do accept offers of shelter. But he wants to make
clear to the small percentage of people who refuse, that as the city
builds more shelter and interim housing, they have a responsibility to
move indoors.
“I think we need a cultural change, a culture of accountability for
everyone involved,” said Mahan in an interview before the vote. “I don’t
want to use the criminal justice system to make vulnerable people’s
lives harder. I want to use it as a last resort.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San
Francisco, has repeatedly urged cities to ban encampments. Arrests for
illegal lodging have soared in San Francisco, and its current mayor,
Daniel Lurie, has reiterated that it is not appropriate for people to
live outdoors.
Advocates for homeless people say cracking down on encampments is
traumatizing and even counterproductive. Forcing a person to clear out
sets them back in their search for stability as they could lose
important documents needed to apply for work and housing, they said.
“Pushing people with mental health needs or drug addiction into
incarceration — without any crime committed — is both inhumane and
ineffective,” said Otto Lee, president of the Santa Clara County Board
of Supervisors, in a written statement emailed Monday to The Associated
Press.
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San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, right, discusses California Gov. Gavin
Newsom's, left, proposal to build 1,200 small homes across the state
to reduce homelessness, during the first of a four-day tour of the
state in Sacramento Calif., Thursday, March 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Rich
Pedroncelli, File)
Lee and other county leaders are opposed to the mayor's proposal.
They say they need more housing, beds and services, and not
punishment.
Pamela Campos, one of the City Council members who voted against the
proposal, said she supports the idea of enhanced outreach but not
the onus placed on homeless people.
“We are placing a huge amount of burden on an individual and framing
it as a choice when the real culprit is a system that pushes people
experiencing poverty into homelessness,” she said at the meeting.
The “responsibility to shelter” proposal does not mandate an arrest
after three rejected offers.
Mahan said in consultation with the city attorney’s office and
police that it made more sense to give front-line outreach workers
and police officers discretion to decide when to escalate or
prioritize a situation. The city will set up a new six-officer
quality of life unit within the police department.
“We don’t want to overly tie their hands and tell them this is the
only way to do it,” the mayor said.
People who repeatedly violate the city's encampment code of conduct
could be sent to a recovery center for detox or petitioned for
court-mandated treatment for psychiatric or substance use disorder
care, Mahan said.
San Jose has nearly 1,400 shelter spots and hopes to add another 800
by the end of the year. Officials are aware they do not have enough
beds, and Mahan said that people will not be punished if beds are
unavailable or the only options are unsuitable.
City Council member David Cohen voted in favor, but he hopes
residents who have packed City Hall meetings clamoring for relief
won't think this will serve as a panacea for the city's ongoing
struggles with homeless encampments.
“I’m hoping we’ll see some incremental improvement, but the reality
is that the work we’re doing will take years," he said. “People need
to be prepared for the fact that it will take years, and that we
don’t send a signal that we’ve just done something magical.”
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