Many cities across San Diego County are updating their homeless encampment policies after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave them permission to enforce camping restrictions in public spaces. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada has the details.
Many cities across San Diego County are updating their homeless encampment policies after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave them permission to enforce camping restrictions in public spaces.
Chula Vista and National City are the latest cities to ban homeless encampments on public property, but there’s one city in North County that implemented a camping ban even before the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Carlsbad Councilmember for District 1, Melanie Burkholder, said the recent ruling is now prompting them to consider possible changes to their existing policies.
“Our understanding of the Supreme Court ruling was essentially that we didn't have to offer shelter before we gave a citation to folks. So that was the difference, the major difference,” Burkholder said.
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Back in 2021, Carlsbad implemented its own homeless camping ban as part of the city’s five-year plan to address homelessness.
Since July of last year, they’ve cleared 18 encampments, according to the city’s most recent report.
“It's not just to cite them and bother them, right? That's not the whole goal. The goal is to get people into shelter and or housing. So hopefully it will continue to empower our officers to do just that,” Burkholder said.
According to this year’s Point-in-Time Count in San Diego County, the number of homeless people increased by around 200 in each region.
The report showed in Carlsbad, the number of unsheltered people was 112, up from 60 last year.
Burkholder said city councilmembers will meet with the homeless commission and ask for public input before deciding how they will move forward.
“I think that's what we can all agree on, that it's not okay to live on the streets,” Burkholder said.
Back in June, when the ruling came down, Tamera Kohler, the CEO of the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness, responded to the ruling saying in part, “This ruling, by a divided Supreme Court, won’t help us solve homelessness, but it will harm people experiencing homelessness. It’s inhumane. It stands up more barriers to housing.”
John Van Cleef is the CEO of the Community Resource Center, an organization that offers housing and other services to people experiencing homelessness or those at risk of becoming homeless.
He said the City of Carlsbad has been proactively working towards finding solutions by providing homelessness, outreach, shelter, and affordable housing.
“I would join many who advocate for our neighbors who are unsheltered in just reminding people that being unhoused is not a crime,” Van Cleef said.
Carlsbad’s unsheltered population makes up 9% of the total unsheltered population in North County, according to the Point-in-Time Count.
