Opinion: To reduce homelessness, pair compassion with accountability
By John Franklin
495 homeless people died last year alone on the streets of our County. Homeless people are as many as 40 times more likely to die than their housed counterparts.
San Diego County leaders must expand the use of involuntary treatment to save the lives of mentally ill homeless people.
Mentally healthy people do not choose to live unsheltered, and money is clearly not the hurdle standing in the way of housing 5,714 unsheltered San Diegans. Allowing the mentally ill to die on our streets is not compassionate, and it does not honor a “choice” they’ve made to live unsheltered.
When mental disorder clouds a person’s ability to make healthy choices, the individual isn’t choosing, the disease is.
The California Assembly enacted the Lanterman-Petris-Short Conservatorship Act (LPS). Governor Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1967. It established that an individual could be subject to conservatorship if they failed to feed, clothe or shelter themselves. The law also allows persons suffering from chronic alcoholism to be evaluated and potentially committed to conservatorship. In 2023, the Legislature added “severe substance use disorder,” and failure to provide for, “personal safety or necessary medical care,” to the definition of gravely disabled – the standard for continued involuntary treatment.
To protect Constitutional liberties, the LPS law guarantees patients the right to a unanimous jury verdict, a competent attorney, a psychiatrist’s evaluation and a patient’s rights advocate.
San Diego’s use of conservatorship is steadily declining, now utilizing conservatorship at rates lower than any of the state’s other large counties. While the Court is ultimately empowered to impose conservatorship, the County must petition the court, and so the County’s policies here matter. The County has brought fewer and fewer petitions to the Court while homelessness grows.
Money for housing is clearly not the problem. During the past 5 years, the State Auditor reported that California spent $24 billion on homelessness. Despite the enormous spending during that period, homelessness actually increased by 30,000. The state spent the equivalent of $160,000 per homeless person.
It’s clear that the approach we’re taking isn’t working. In fact, it’s making the problem worse.
The Auditor’s report went on to find, “The State lacks current information on the ongoing costs and outcomes of its homelessness programs, because [it] has not consistently tracked and evaluated the State’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness. . . . [The state] has also not aligned its action plan to end homelessness with its statutory goals to collect financial information and ensure accountability and results. Thus, it lacks assurance that the actions it takes will effectively enable it to achieve those goals.”
In Vista, we’ve taken a different approach—one based on accountability. Accountability for policymakers, accountability for criminals who prey on encampments, and accountability for those who are capable of making better choices but refuse to do so.
We have paired shelter and services with law enforcement. When we cracked down on drug dealers selling fentanyl, meth, and heroin to the homeless, encampments disappeared. When Vista reinforced its camping ban under my leadership, more unsheltered individuals said “yes” to shelter because refusing now carried consequences. That’s why we reduced Vista’s unsheltered population by 15% in just one year.
I spearheaded an important partnership between The San Diego Rescue Mission, The Lucky Duck Foundation and the City of Vista that will save lives and save taxpayers millions of dollars. The Rescue Mission is primarily funded by private philanthropists, including The Lucky Duck Foundation. The Rescue Mission is donating the operating costs for Vista’s navigation center, which will save Vista taxpayers millions each year. In exchange, they ask to bring their approach, focused on transforming lives through love and accountability, to the work they do.
We must refuse to accept a system that lets hundreds die on our streets each year while billions are wasted. The solution must include compassion and accountability. It’s about restoring safety and dignity to both our neighborhoods and to those suffering on the streets.
Enough is enough.
Our city streets shouldn’t be skid row or death row. It’s time for leaders who demand an end to this crisis to forcefully advocate for involuntary treatment solutions to save lives and restore public safety in San Diego County.
