Sad Truths About San Diego's Unhoused

Some of the 'bad guys' are supposedly liberal Democrats

Righteous rhetoric by local Democratic politicos aims to create the perception they are working to “end” the “problem” of people living on the street.  The reality is that their actions are actually a response to a growing segment of the electorate fed up with the visual pollution of tents, panhandlers, and not-healthy looking humans who have no place else to go.

The sights, smells, and sounds of our unhoused population all-too-often serve as a reinforcement to the mythology of poor people being lazy, unintelligent, and undeserving. In a society where lack of empathy all-too-often is treated as a virtue, people higher up the economic ladder are becoming a squeaky wheel for elected officials. 

So the modus operandi for city hall with regard to homeless humans has been unfulfillable promises accompanied by largely unseen cruelty. “Campgrounds” incapable of handling the numbers of people living on the street are opened even before basic services are in place. Police officers are mostly untrained in new enforcement protocols and have been reported for ticketing people asking for shelter placement.

The latest act of inhumanity is being attributed to City Council member Steven Whitburn, whose district includes downtown and Hillcrest, with a large homeless population and an outraged citizenry claiming to be a majoritarian voting bloc. He is the council member who introduced the controversial ban on camping on public property ordinance that took effect recently.

Inewsource reports Whitburn has (maybe temporarily) reversed himself on an earlier promise saying he would act to stop the city from unfairly targeting low-income and unhoused people when towing vehicles. 

All-too-often persons evicted from their homes end up with a vehicle as their last resort for shelter.

• City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said he would champion changes to the city’s towing program after an internal audit found the most common reason San Diego police impound cars is for what researchers have called “poverty tows.” That includes towing for expired registration, 72-hour parking violations and unpaid tickets — offenses commonly applied to low-income and unhoused people. 

• But Whitburn recently changed course. He said he wants to await the outcome of a state bill that focuses on ending tows solely for unpaid parking tickets. Two of the three most common towing reasons by far in San Diego are expired registration and 72-hour parking violations.

• San Diego’s towing program is costly in more ways than one. The city loses at least $1.5 million a year on these tows because people often can’t afford to retrieve their vehicles. And when people lose their vehicles, they could also lose their jobs, access to education or medical care and, sometimes, their homes.

Whitburn’s reason for a delay is AB 1082, introduced by Assembly member Ash Kalra, which aims to restrict local governments’ authority to engage in “poverty tows” typically done when multiple parking tickets are pending. There are other parts of the bill changing procedures, including involving institutions of higher education in towing decisions.

The bill has passed the State Assembly, but its status in the Senate is unclear, since it was referred back to the Appropriations Committee on July 11. To be enacted, AB 1082 must be passed by September 14 and signed by the governor a month later.

Opposition to the bill is being organized by the California Mobility & Parking Association (CMPA), an industry group supported by dozens of companies with vested interests in parking and enforcement.

Whitburn has flip flopped on the poverty towing issue using the lame excuse of a bill unlikely to pass this year. And even if it did, changes in policy would not take effect until Jan. 1.

Activists for the unhoused believe the council member’s change in position is really based on opposition from the SDPD. which manages the existing towing program.

• An inewsource analysis last month found San Diego police continue to order these poverty tows at roughly the same rate — averaging about 650 tows per month — even after the audit raised concerns. 

Two out of every five cars impounded in San Diego are associated with poverty tows, which have nothing to do with public safety or access, the usual justifications for this level of parking enforcement.

One social media post blames the switch on his former chief of staff being a consultant to the three largest towing companies in san Diego

The raw numbers of people living on the street in San Diego are increasing faster than those who are becoming housed again. For all the bluster about local social programs, the sad truth is that a majority of those finding housing are doing it unassisted.

Today’s Voice of San Diego reveals serious problems with the premier homeless provider, Father Joe’s Villages.

• A committee assembled to analyze how the region can address disparities fueling Black homelessness last year confronted a stark reality: Homeless shelters disproportionately banned Black San Diegans from accessing their services – and yet there was sparse data on who was being banned or why. 

• As that revelation came to light, city and San Diego Housing Commission officials found that Father Joe’s Villages, the city’s foremost shelter provider, had a lengthy list of clients suspended from accessing its services and was disproportionately removing Black clients.  

• As of last November, Father Joe’s had 134 people on its suspension list. Four other city providers tracked by the Housing Commission banned a combined 11 people total. Just under 39 percent of the 134 onetime clients on Father Joe’s suspension list were Black, where Black people represented about 28 percent of those in city shelters. Black San Diegans make up 26 percent of the city’s overall homeless population per the region’s latest homeless census. 

The prevailing belief among county conservatives is that homelessness is mostly caused by bad choices. Drug rehab and treatment for mental illness are first on their lists for “solving” the problem. The ever-increasing numbers of elderly citizens and those with disabilities give the lie to their assumptions, along with the lack of facilities capable of handling an influx of people with health problems.

Poverty, lack of availability, and unaffordability are primary drivers of homelessness locally. Imagine trying to rent or share an apartment while living on a $1500 disability or social security check. Imagine trying to find an apartment in a market where much of the housing has become off limits, thanks to a poorly crafted law.

NBC7 News reports that hundreds of apartment buildings in San Diego are in fact Air BnBs. It’s all legal under the terms of the city’s Short Term Residential Occupancy ordinance. A  law intended to increase the number of long-term rentals available, helping to solve the housing crisis.

They interviewed Jay Goldberg, a short-term rental compliance watchdog. Using the city’s short-term rental license database and the county’s property parcel data, he found at least 273 buildings in San Diego where 50% or more of the units are licensed for vacation rentals.

NBC7’s report noted that Goldberg’s analysis could well be incomplete, particularly with regard to county data.

• We discovered San Diego County’s property data lists many buildings with multiple units as only having one unit. There are even properties listed as having zero units. An official with the Property Assessor’s Office says there are many reasons why unit numbers could be inaccurate and that the office is working to correct and update their parcel data.

Think that’s bad? There’s more:

• In June, NBC 7 Investigates revealed a loophole in the city’s law which allowed one property owner to obtain 114 short term rental licenses in Ocean Beach alone. He told us he did that by asking friends and family to act as hosts. The offices of the city treasurer and city attorney tell NBC 7 Investigates using other people as hosts is not a violation of the ordinance.

• And in July, NBC 7 Investigates exposed problems with how the city treasurer’s office processes applications. Officials admit the city’s system sometimes grants several hosts more than one STRO license, which the ordinance strictly forbids. 

All these pieces of the puzzle certainly paint a picture of local government unable or unwilling to confront the problems faced by its poorest citizens, despite rhetoric to the contrary. It’s a systemic economic problem, and social safety systems need to be created and maintained.

As much as it troubles me to say it (I endorsed many of the politicians involved), next year’s elections should offer voters better choices than the current bunch of incumbents.

This year’s better choice is Monica Montgomery-Steppe for County Supervisor. She’s been a beacon of principle in a sea of hypocrisy.

North Park resident Colleen Cusack is already running to replace Whitburn, and while she’s been known to be caustic in her (under a pseudonym) social media critiques, her campaign is centered around better (and real) solutions for San Diego’s marginalized populations.

Lead image: Invisible People