Mayoral Candidate Barbara Bry’s Horrible Homeless Crusade

From Words&Deeds / Oct. 19, 2019

Note: I promised myself I’d stay out of Democrat vs Democrat races where the election of one or the other wouldn’t have a great impact. Barbara Bry has crossed that line. We don’t need four more years of Kevin Falconer.

Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Barbara Bry isn’t the first person who comes to mind when I hear Senator Bernie Sanders railing against the 1%. Sometimes though, it’s not how much money you’ve got, it’s how the trappings of the uber rich filter down the economic food chain.

The 1% need a little help beyond what money can buy to protect their interests. This means advocacy and ideology supporting their interests. Otherwise well-meaning people parrot policy ideas favoring the status quo that are all about protecting people’s “stuff.”

La Jolla’s Councilmember has been beating the drums lately with an op ed in the Times of San Diego, direct mail, and Facebook ads stirring up issues around homelessness in a manner aimed at juicing up the disgust many San Diegan feel when confronted with the results of decades of heightening inequality.

Here are some of her words:

• “Over a decade of treating homelessness as principally a “housing problem” has dug a deep and dangerous hole.”

I’ll skip over the part about how our present situation is Assem. Todd Gloria’s fault.

• Studies from the Los Angeles Times and UCLA show that a significant majority of homeless suffer from mental health and/or drug abuse problems.

Here’s the relevant sentence about the Los Angeles Times article–which measured physical and mental health issues differently than the government does. 

• But neither the UCLA study nor the Times analysis suggests that these disabilities and health conditions alone cause people to end up on the streets. Elected officials and researchers largely agree that California’s affordable housing crisis and poverty are the primary drivers of homelessness.

Back to the Bry screed: (Emphasis mine)

• The new plan commissioned by the San Diego Housing Commission, while not perfect, finally breaks from this disastrous path by recognizing that success is dependent upon mental health professionals, drug rehabilitation specialists, vocational trainers, and educated law enforcement officers to deal with the issues that are actually at the root of homelessness.
• Living on a street or in a riverbed is unacceptable, unsafe for the homeless, and a public health threat. But we cannot address the root causes of homelessness by treating it principally as a “housing problem.”
• Accepting the failure of past policies by making mental illness, drug addiction and public safety our first priorities is the first step to a successful approach.

I don’t know how to read that last sentence any other way than “lock’em up.” 

The County of San Diego has control of mental illness facilities and oversight of drug rehab programs.

Other than urging better coordination between entities and contracting out tents, the main tool left for a San Diego Mayor is the police, unless you count having public works install stony sidewalks under bridges.

Bry campaigning on this issue isn’t much different than City Council candidates promising to resolve local education issues. [School boards are independent of local government].

How about the other half or so of the homeless population NOT afflicted with mental illness and substance abuse?  

Many of the local homeless population are senior citizens whose social security simply can’t cover the cost of living. We don’t see the majority of unhoused people; more than three times the number of people counted in the annual point in time census used homeless services in San Diego County last year.

Maybe Barbara Bry should try living on the street for a few months so she can experience the thrills of trying to stay sane with no money, the constant fear of predators and/or police. There’s nothing like going mostly sleepless for weeks on end to rattle the ol’ synapses. I’ve been told that once you hit six months on the street de-socialization occurs.

I suppose I should repeat the relevant part of Megan Wood’s Voice of San Diego explainer focused on the myths of homelessness:

• Myth #1: Most homeless people have serious mental illnesses. University of Pennsylvania professor Dennis Culhane is considered one of the top authorities on homelessness research nationwide and he estimates the rate of severe mental illness among the homeless (including families and children) is 13 to 15 percent. For the chronically homeless, he estimates about a third of the population has a serious mental illness.
• Myth #2: Most homeless San Diegans aren’t from here. Our most recent point-in-time counts – which do rely on some self-reporting and surveys – have suggested less than a quarter of homeless San Diegans first became homeless outside San Diego County. In our most recent homeless census, 78 percent of folks surveyed said they became homeless in San Diego County.
• Myth #3: Homeless San Diegans want to be homeless. I have talked to dozens of homeless people myself in my years reporting on this issue and I can tell you it tends to be more complicated. Like you or I, homeless people have preferences about the type of housing they’d like to be in. Many have reservations about shelter beds. Or they are jaded after years on the street and are unlikely to trust anyone offering them a path off the street right off the bat. More on this and the other three myths above here.
• Myth #4: Most homelessness is tied to drugs or alcohol. I researched this quite a bit a couple years ago and found that the lion’s share of sources and research suggests between 25 percent and 40 percent of the nation’s homeless population is struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, or both.
• One larger takeaway: Many of us make assumptions about the homeless population based on the portion of the homeless population that is most visible to us. But many homeless people fall under the radar. You’d never know they are homeless. They have jobs and routines. They may be couch surfing or in between places. They are newly homeless. More food for thought (and data) on this here.

Now that I’ve dished out some stats and wisdom on homelessness, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. 

Whether it’s by commission or omission, Bry’s campaign is selling fear. Just like she did when she warned constituents “they’re coming for your homes” as the legislature considered a law attacking the density restrictions used by cities to protect the interests of single homeowners.

The “it’s not housing” claim she makes doesn’t hold water. People are not homeless, by and large, because of health or abuse problems. There is simply no place for them to live. 

Rents are too high for seniors on fixed incomes. Many jobs don’t pay enough to afford housing. And Single Occupancy Hotels downtown were torn down; many of the people living in those properties had nowhere to go.

Finally, the vast majority of people living without a roof over their heads aren’t doing it as a lifestyle choice.

I get it. Barbara Bry and her set don’t want any of “those people” living near them. In a perfect world, every community would be asked to welcome some new neighbors.

Building an unlimited number of ugly box apartment buildings along El Cajon Boulevard won’t help the homeless. Voting for a convention center bond measure dressed up as a funding mechanism for homeless services won’t do much, if anything.

We need low-income–excuse me, the new terminology is “workforce”–housing built. If Tom Sudberry won’t do it, then let’s find people who will. I’m not talking 10%. More like 100%, run like a cooperative, with non-profits overseeing the management.

If Barbara Bry wants to address the “homeless” question, this (or something like it) is what she should be advocating, not continuing to criminalize a condition DIRECTLY caused by the failures of the “free market” she so dearly loves.

I don’t consider this post an endorsement of Assem. Todd Gloria, even though my instincts tell me he’ll likely win. I’ll get around to profiles on the candidates about the time the window for declaring closes.