SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Homeless people who reject three offers of shelter will be eligible for arrest on trespassing after the San Jose City Council voted Tuesday for a policy change they hope will encourage unhoused people to trade in their tents on sidewalks for beds indoors.
The vote was 9-2 in favor of adding a “responsibility to shelter” provision to the city’s encampment code of conduct, which also includes expectations that homeless people will not pitch tents near schools and playgrounds or block public rights of way.
The proposal by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahon is eye-opening because it comes from a liberal city headed by a Democrat in the left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area. It is among the stricter anti-encampment deterrents proposed by elected officials since the Supreme Court in 2023 made it easier to ban homeless people from camping on public property…