𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬? 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟮

Note: If you didn’t see Part 1, you can find that here.

Why doesn’t the city council tell police to step up enforcement? They aren’t letting them do their jobs and they told them to let people camp anywhere.

The reality is, the current council has made very few changes to the ordinances from the previous council. But even if they pushed Chico PD to start enforcing more heavily, the results under the previous enforcement push were less than desirable too; as people were moved along from downtown and the parks, they moved into the streets and avenues, camping in alleys, behind dumpsters, behind YOUR back fence. People were outraged and called PD to move them along.

Back to step one.

𝐈𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐃 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.

The council specifically said, per CDC guidelines, that Chico PD shouldn’t move or break up EXISTING camps. There was no change to enforcement otherwise, nor did they instruct Chico PD to stop all enforcement.

They also requested that city staff bring them options for legal campsites. This did not happen until the special meeting on September 22nd, 6 months after the request.

These are not easily solved problems. Chico, as most of the country, has had a serious problem with homelessness for many years; the numbers haven’t changed drastically since we had a conservative-majority council. There is very little the council can do directly except to work to create shelter beds, and to ensure that there are appropriate programs in place, and social workers who can do outreach and work directly with the unhoused.

Those relationships take time to build. Another things we often see is someone saying, I talked to a homeless person, and I offered to take them to a shelter, or to help them get a job, etc. That’s really wonderful. But mental illness is rampant in the homeless population, not to mention, just basic human worry; you wouldn’t just go with a stranger who approached you in most cases either, and especially not if you had been living on the streets, trying to avoid being harassed and preyed upon.

As far as the homeless go, in the short term it doesn’t really matter whether we have a conservative or progressive majority. This problem will not be magically solved by a new council, because there is no swift and magical solution.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?

We all agree that the impacts on parks and waterways are concerning. First and foremost, to mitigate that, we MUST have legal places for people to camp. This could be accomplished in a week if the community and council had the will to do it. The council could put an emergency ordinance in place that would legalize camping in specific places (as of now, no camping is legal within the city). The city would need to provide PortaPotties, potable water, and daily trash pickup. There needs to be shade, and the location needs to be central enough for people to be able to walk to get services, food, etc. Once that is in place, the city could partner with private organizations like CHAT - Chico Housing Action Team that have resources and volunteers to help manage the camps. CHAT and others have repeatedly expressed a willingness to help.

That could all happen in a matter of days. At that point, at least there is a place where people can legally exist (as there is no place for legal camping in the city currently), and when someone is asked to leave a park or a waterway, there is a legal place for them to go.

Once camps are in place, social workers and service providers can begin to work directly with people on housing solutions, as well as the barriers that prevent them from accessing housing, such as mental illness.

Again, keep in mind, we still don’t have enough affordable housing, so this will take time as well. It is likely that the camps will be there for some time, as we work on this issue on a local, state and national level.

Nothing about this is going to be fast. Nothing about it is ideal for anyone in the community, let alone the people living on the streets. But this is what we can accomplish now. These are concrete steps that we can take to move our city forward, and to move the humans who are living in dire conditions forward.

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝?

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