Last July, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address (homeless) encampments” and allocated funding to local governments to clear encampments and connect “those living in them to housing and supportive services.” 

Seven months later, how is that working out? The homelessness problem is only getting worse. What is going on?

Although well intentioned, the governor’s order is not a solution for several reasons.

Flies in the Ointment

At the state level, the order has no teeth … other than allocating or withholding funding. At the local level, county and city governments resist, sometimes just by dragging their feet. 

Some jurisdictions like San Diego, where I work and live, are clearing encampments. But those efforts just move people around to establish new encampments somewhere else. And “out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t solve anything.

The City of San Diego explored and then abandoned the idea of a mega-shelter that would house up to 1,000 homeless people. Would it have made a difference in getting people off the street and re-engaging in society with dignity? Maybe … if the shelter included needed services from medical care to addiction treatment to counseling and more.

If anyone expects those in shelters to travel to obtain services elsewhere, they are dreaming.

So are there enough existing shelter spaces to make a difference?

Shelter Space Exists

I cannot speak to areas outside San Diego, but here if people want to get better (more on what that means later) and get off the streets, there are shelter spaces.

The San Diego Rescue Mission, whose newly formed Board of Trustees my wife Annie and I just joined, has shelter space available. Father Joe’s Villages/St. Vincent de Paul, the latter of whose Board I served on for 32 years (4 years as chair), has shelter space available and is building more.

The city is still looking to add shelter space in buildings that could be repurposed as shelters and in safe-sleeping sites with tents for individuals or couples, among other ideas.

But in and of itself, it still misses the mark. The “housing-first” approach that San Diego adopted is failing us. To use a medical analogy, it addresses the symptoms and not the causes.

Address the Root Causes

A harsh reality is that many homeless people do not want to go to shelters. Why? Because they do not want to address problems that must be remedied. Those problems include mental health, and/or drug and alcohol addiction. And those root causes need to be prioritized.

I believe in tough love, as opposed to enabling self-destructive behavior. My brother committed suicide because he was not faced with tough love.

So, what does tough love look like for the homeless? I say give them three choices:

• Get help. Get treatment before you get permanent housing. Because if you put an addict into housing, what incentive do they have to get treatment? He or she is still an addict.
• Get a bus ticket. Get a ticket to where you have family who will take you in and provide a safety net while you get back on your feet and back into productive society.
• Go to jail. Living on the street or in an encampment is neither socially acceptable nor humane. If you won’t make the choice to give up that lifestyle, it will be made for you.

I joined the Rescue Mission Board of Trustees because they believe homelessness is “a heart issue,” but one that needs to be addressed with tough love.

Father Joe’s Villages is repurposing part of its Paul Mirabile Center into detox and sober-living space. That is precisely what we need more of. 

As long as we only take a cosmetic approach – move the homeless out of sight – very little will change. Only when we take the difficult steps to address root causes through tough love will we see a brighter future for all.