A committee for the San Diego City Council voted 3–1 on April 13 to advance an ordinance banning homeless encampments if shelter beds are available.
After the vote by the city’s Land Use and Housing Committee, the issue will now advance to the nine-member city council.
The ordinance would also ban encampments within two blocks of elementary schools and shelters, in any open space or waterway, near any transit hub, and in several parks, regardless of shelter availability.
City Councilman Stephen Whitburn brought the issue before the committee and told them that homelessness is the No. 1 problem that San Diegans want to be addressed.
“San Diegans want very much to help people experiencing homelessness get back on their feet,” he told the committee. “But San Diegans also want people experiencing homelessness to accept shelter when a suitable bed is offered to them.”
According to Whitburn, there have been recent incidents of people in San Diego encampments being stabbed, set on fire, and dying from hepatitis and sickened by Shigella, a dangerous bacteria. In March 2022, a car jumped a curb and plowed into a homeless encampment in San Diego, killing three people and injuring six.
“These encampments are unsafe,” he said.
The city has also reported that common items found in encampments include weapons, rotting food, drugs, needles, jars of urine, and human waste.
According to a March count by nonprofit Downtown San Diego Partnership, there were 1,718 homeless people in the city—down from 1,939 recorded in January.
If passed, the city would post written notices near encampments, giving dwellers up to 48 hours to remove any belongings that they would like to keep, before conducting a clean-up of the site.
The committee approved Whitburn’s proposal with the request that it include all city parks; that there be an enforcement plan and another that identifies permissible sleeping sites; and that a legal analysis be conducted by the city attorney before the city council’s consideration.
