Hold Discussion on not allowing the homeless to camp out or panhandle in San Marcos city limits or ETJ and what our police need to help with the effort of enforcement, and provide direction to the City Manager.
Item 44: Camping & Panhandling Discussion
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MDerrick
CoSM Members
1. How are the property owners part of the solution when we know those living on private property will just move to another location and the only thing trespassing citations do are to put a person in jail for one night and then let them out again?
2. Our unhoused neighbors also can't afford citation fines, so they will just wind up with a warrant and be arrested if the encounter law enforcement - How do we expect Police and Code Compliance to work with individuals that fear arrest? We have a pretty good situation going on currently with organizations working with folks that want to be housed and getting them hotel vouchers, case management and then into perm housing. If the private property owners have not minded about the camping for so many years, why do we want to pull them into this situation that will only make lives harder and won't solve the issue. We will always have unhoused neighbors and they have to "be" somewhere. We only had around 150 in our last PIT count, but is is steadily rising due to evictions and we don't have enough service providers to put them all in hotels at one time. Additionally some don't want to be housed and may never be ready to and some have mental challenges that don't make them a good fit for hotel vouches as they tend to cause damages that must be paid by the hotel voucher providers.
2. Our unhoused neighbors also can't afford citation fines, so they will just wind up with a warrant and be arrested if the encounter law enforcement - How do we expect Police and Code Compliance to work with individuals that fear arrest? We have a pretty good situation going on currently with organizations working with folks that want to be housed and getting them hotel vouchers, case management and then into perm housing. If the private property owners have not minded about the camping for so many years, why do we want to pull them into this situation that will only make lives harder and won't solve the issue. We will always have unhoused neighbors and they have to "be" somewhere. We only had around 150 in our last PIT count, but is is steadily rising due to evictions and we don't have enough service providers to put them all in hotels at one time. Additionally some don't want to be housed and may never be ready to and some have mental challenges that don't make them a good fit for hotel vouches as they tend to cause damages that must be paid by the hotel voucher providers.
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Response provided by Chief of Police, Stan Standridge & Director of Public Safety, Chase Stapp:
This item was a discussion item requested by Councilman Scott and Councilman Gonzales. Staff provided some background information to Council last week, but this item is not a staff-driven action item. Collaboration with private property owners is a key component of managing homelessness in a community. However, we have to recognize that any abrupt change in policy that displaces a large number of people will only serve to move the problem around. For that reason, staff would only recommend a change in how we partner with private property owners as part of a more global approach that would take place after the comprehensive needs assessment is complete.
This item was a discussion item requested by Councilman Scott and Councilman Gonzales. Staff provided some background information to Council last week, but this item is not a staff-driven action item. Collaboration with private property owners is a key component of managing homelessness in a community. However, we have to recognize that any abrupt change in policy that displaces a large number of people will only serve to move the problem around. For that reason, staff would only recommend a change in how we partner with private property owners as part of a more global approach that would take place after the comprehensive needs assessment is complete.
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