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Presentation on Current Initiatives and Future Opportunities to Address Homelessness in Lodi (CD)
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MEETING DATE:
October 7, 2024
PREPARED BY:
John Della Monica, Community Development Director
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RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive a presentation on current initiatives and future opportunities to address homelessness in Lodi.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City of Lodi along with San Joaquin County, State of California, and the Country are experiencing a homelessness crisis. Recently the Point in Time (PIT) Count identified 262 unsheltered individuals and 154 sheltered, for a total of 416 individuals experiencing homelessness in the City of Lodi. The PIT Count is a biannual survey of homeless individuals that takes place in the last week of January. The 2022 PIT Count showed 208 unsheltered individuals in Lodi.
Until recently, cities were limited in their options to respond to homelessness based on common interpretations of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decisions in Martin v. City of Boise and Johnson v. City of Grants Pass. Under the guidance of those rulings, jurisdictions understood that enforcement of public camping laws required availability of alternatives such as shelter beds. Further, the decisions lacked clarity on whether there were reasonable restrictions municipalities could enforce. The lack of clarity exposed cities to lawsuits for taking certain enforcement activities. In June 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that cities can enforce laws that prohibit public camping and sleeping without violating the 8th Amendment.
Following the SCOTUS decision in July 2024, the Governor of California issued an executive order directing state agencies to act "with urgency" to remove homeless encampment from public spaces, "prioritizing those encampments that most threaten the life, health and safety of those in and around them." The order encourages local a...
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