Stockton, CA – Today, Miguel Villapudua, Chairman of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors issued the following statement on the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, et al:
“While we are still seeking to understand what this decision will mean for us here locally, I want to applaud the Supreme Court decision, which seeks to restore balance in the ongoing battle against addiction and homelessness in our streets. The Court, in its decision, has restored the rights of local jurisdictions, like cities and counties, to maintain safe and clean facilities and public spaces for use by all its residents. Enforcement must be part of the solution to this challenge. In the last decade, with our hands tied, we have seen an explosion of encampments, public park dwellings and deterioration of quality of life throughout local cities. I want to be clear that being poor or without a home is not a crime, or a moral failing, but this ruling restores our ability to encourage, with consequences and safe boundaries, those among us who are in the throes of addiction and mental health crisis to get the help that they need.
The Board of Supervisors has championed safe shelters, wrap around services, mental health and drug addiction treatment as vital parts of the assistance that we offer to the most vulnerable in our community. We are looking, even now, at safe camping and parking locations, that will offer people a transitory period to get them into the care and services they need for a better quality of life. No one should be consigned to the peripheries of our community. We all deserve basic human dignity like a clean and safe place to sleep. This ruling makes that possible once again.
I am proud that we have empowered our Probation Department to begin the SJ Cares initiative, which is a multi-department and multi-agency effort to assist and protect the vulnerable residents we have who are currently unsheltered. This initiative allows them entry and access to vital services to get off the streets, but as always, we are not just concerned with getting them a place to live, but a life worth living. We hope you will join us in this effort.”
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