Following the failure of Berkeley’s sit-lie measure, the City Council will consider establishing a committee to address ongoing problems of homelessness in the city. While most support finding immediate solutions to the problem, concerns remain over how quickly the committee would produce any tangible results.
Councilmember Jesse Arreguin will propose the Compassionate Sidewalks Plan at Tuesday’s council meeting, which recommends that a committee be formed to focus on the causes of homelessness, evaluate existing homeless services the city offers and then pinpoint areas of improvement.
The issue, however, has been identifying just exactly what the “problem” is and who is causing it. While it may seem like semantics, the struggle to define the term “homelessness” and come up with concrete solutions has been a drawn-out process.
Most agree something needs to be done, but coming up with concrete solutions to this problem has proven to be difficult. The failure of Measure S, a Berkeley city measure that would have banned sitting on sidewalks late at night, means that the city must now find a different solution to this problem.
“My proposal is to do the job that we should have done before we put Measure S on the ballot,” Arreguin said.
The committee will seek to incorporate community voices in tackling this problem and will consist of city officials, business owners and other community members, including the homeless.
While he agrees that Arreguin’s plan is a step in the right direction, Councilmember Kriss Worthington worries that the plan might be delayed in its implementation. According to Nils Moe, senior aide to Mayor Tom Bates, a committee would not be able to meet to discuss the homelessness problem until April, as the council will be tied up approving the city budget in the coming months.
Other concerns include fears that Compassionate Sidewalks does not adequately address issues raised by Measure S.
“In the behavior that Measure S was trying to address, the majority of people were not homeless,” said Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, which endorsed the Yes on Measure S campaign. “Jesse’s thing is not really properly a post-S response, because it doesn’t address the issues that S attempted to address.”
Apparent in the discussions of homelessness is still the argument over whether there is a homeless “culture” and if a significant portion of the homeless are homeless by choice.
“It’s hard for people who have pets and shit,” said Nicole Shaak, who has been living on the streets of Berkeley by choice for about a year. “I don’t like shelters unless it’s hella raining.”
For Shaak and others like her, living on the street is preferable to the confines of a shelter, which have many rules and do not give them the freedom to travel as they desire. Improvements in quality and space in shelters would not appeal to them.
Others, like longtime Berkeley resident and recently homeless Mark Anthony, believe that living in shelters carries a stigma that makes it hard for people to get back on their feet. He also believes the city already offers enough services to the homeless.
“As far as I’m concerned, the city is doing all that they can,” Anthony said. “They can’t baby people that are supposedly grown individuals.”
Megan Messerly covers city government. Contact her at [email protected].