The residents of San Jose, California, are considering an ultimatum to address the city’s homeless problem, The New York Times reported Sunday: give the homeless the option to live in a shelter or arrest them.
The Times reported roughly 6,000 homeless people live in San Jose “in shelters, on the streets, along riverbanks and in vehicles.” Homelessness, in the tech capital of the world, is also the city’s number one issue by a 2 to 1 margin, The Times added.
San Jose’s Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat elected in 2023, offered the proposal to give homeless people who refused shelters three chances before an arrest as well as plans to build 1,000 temporary housing units by 2025. The San Jose City Council gave initial approval, with a final vote scheduled for June. The proposal follows a 2024 Supreme Court decision allowing penalties for sleeping on streets. Critics argue it criminalizes homelessness and ignores high living costs.
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