This is crazy. Nutty public officials want to fine the homeless $500 for violation of a water ordinance. If the homeless had $500 they would not be violating this law. Only a photo/op public attention nut would pass such a law.
“On Nov. 25, the board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District passed a draconian ordinance imposing a $500 fine or 30 days in jail for anyone found living in an encampment on district property after Jan. 2.
While claiming the intention was not to criminalize unhoused people, the board enacted criminal penalties anyway, despite the objections of numerous unhoused service providers and advocates. In a further effort to make its action appear acceptable, Valley Water is now offering $50,000 outreach grants to nonprofits to enforce this new policy.”
No one expects a change in attitude or a dime from this fine. All they are doing is making fools of themselves and wasting time and effort that could be put toward solving this problem.
Op-ed: Homeless advocates and nonprofits oppose Valley Water criminalization plan
by Special to San José Spotlight, 1/24/25 https://sanjosespotlight.com/op-ed-homeless-advocates-and-nonprofits-oppose-valley-water-criminalization-plan/?utm_campaign=Daily%20Spotlight%20-%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ZtrVRKaI-494APjMSpL8QpFJ0VQ5PHa34ti_rUJTWh9bjhiPuVEKCI8llGrRx6aDUWU4STkstwfZFNjv8O-eH-o0Drbc4EwrQkhfKhEWV_yXaXHA&_hsmi=344080260&utm_content=344080260&utm_source=hs_email
On Nov. 25, the board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District passed a draconian ordinance imposing a $500 fine or 30 days in jail for anyone found living in an encampment on district property after Jan. 2.
While claiming the intention was not to criminalize unhoused people, the board enacted criminal penalties anyway, despite the objections of numerous unhoused service providers and advocates. In a further effort to make its action appear acceptable, Valley Water is now offering $50,000 outreach grants to nonprofits to enforce this new policy.
We, the undersigned nonprofits and advocates, decline Valley Water’s invitation to apply for these outreach grants unless and until the criminalization ordinance is repealed. We refuse to use the good will we have established with the unhoused community to implement a policy adopted over our objections and without regard for our suggestions on how to make it more humane and effective.
We oppose any outreach plan that includes fines and jail terms. Criminalization causes unnecessary anxiety and trauma, and creates more barriers for people to access employment and housing. It is wrong to offer people temporary hope and services that only lead to citations and arrests when alternative housing or shelter is not provided.
Especially during a time of rising racial polarization, we cannot support any policy that increases the fear, uncertainty, distrust, trauma and incarceration of Black, brown and immigrant people who make up such a large portion of the unhoused population.
We share the board’s commitment to protecting and respecting the natural environment, but it cannot be done at the expense of people who have no other place to go and are only trying to survive. People should not be moved out of camps that have become their places of refuge, safety and survival, without a clear plan from Valley Water for alternative affordable housing or shelter.
Removal of unhoused people from water district property without alternative accommodations is expensive and will not end homelessness. It will only move hundreds of unhoused people into the neighborhoods of San Jose and other creekside cities.
To protect the waterways, Valley Water should provide unhoused people with a clear map of safe places on its property where they can temporarily live without sweeps or criminalization while awaiting effective services and affordable housing.
We call on Valley Water to repeal its criminalization ordinance. We call on it to be an honest partner in an outreach program, not to try to use our good reputations with the community to sell a flawed and punitive policy. Working with unhoused people, and giving them a seat at the table, rather than one behind bars, is the way to attract more partners to the work of cleaning up and improving our waterways.
This open letter to Valley Water was initiated by Debra Townley of the Unhoused Response Group and signed by Abode Services, Amigos de Guadalupe, CHAM Deliverance Ministry, Family Supportive Housing Inc, LUNA (Latinos United for a New America), Neighborhood Hands, Sacred Heart Community Service, NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley De-Bug, SIREN, SOS (Survivors of the Streets) and West Valley Community Services. Jaime Alvarado, Kylie Clark, Jordan Moldow, as well as Marlene Bennet and Philip Boo Riley of Santa Clara University also signed on as individuals.
Debra Townley is a former teacher and business owner with a degree in early childhood education. She is a leading member of the Unhoused Response Group and longtime resident of Santa Clara County who lived unhoused with her son from 2014-19.
