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San Luis Obispo says lawsuit harms the homeless

February 11, 2022

SLO City Attorney Christine Dietrick

Statement from the City of San Luis Obispo

The City of San Luis Obispo’s goal is to prevent homelessness and reduce chronic homelessness. To do that, we all need to work together as a community.

We had hoped a recent lawsuit against the city would be dismissed at an early stage so that resources can be fully dedicated to delivering solutions, rather than defending our community against legal action. Instead, the court denied the city’s motion for dismissal and has decided that the case can move forward.

The city remains confident that as we proceed the facts will support our compliance with the law and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to assisting individuals who are willing and ready to take an active role in accessing shelter and other critical services.

This lawsuit does not represent everyone experiencing homelessness within our city and is especially disheartening because the city is doing more now than ever before to prevent and reduce chronic homelessness. Through the continued outreach of our Community Action Team in coordination with our continuum of care partners, we are actively helping many local unsheltered community members enroll in benefits programs, seek case management, and access shelter or housing.

It is not an act of compassion to enable unsafe living conditions outdoors in public spaces in a community where services and shelter are available. We look forward to resolving this distracting lawsuit and remain fully open to working with any and all willing partners toward solutions.


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Not without the help of the “continuum of care partners”.


3

The best way to reduce homelessness is to stop making homelessness so comfortable and easy….


34

If you think being homeless is so comfortable and easy, you should try it some time!


-8

“We are actively helping many local unsheltered community members enroll in benefits programs, seek case management, and access shelter or housing.” Benefits programs, already got ’em, thank you for the money to buy drugs and alcohol, case management, not interested, please see previous comment, shelter or housing, not interested, please see previous comment. We are going to pay drug addicts and the mentally ill to live on the streets, period. You are going to waste millions on social services salaries but will never prove me wrong and conditions under the current paradigm will continue to get worse.


27

The “Community Action Team” will solve everything.


11

It doesn’t matter what the City does to address homelessness. The homeless industrial complex is on a role. They will continue to re-occupy the 13.5 million dollar Bob Jones Trail and the City is now completing the 4.5 million dollar trail between the CHP and the RR tracks on California which will become a a homeless highway for more crime in my neighborhood. The massive homeless camp that was cleared on the other side of the CHP is back. Atascadero cleared out an impressive encampment extensively graded (note to developers, don’t try this at home) into the side of Atascadero Creek on Tuesday only to see it re-inhabited on Wednesday, basically just the housekeeping staff taking out the trash. The homeless industrial complex will not be happy until SLO, Atascadero, Cambria, Los Osos, Morro Bay, Paso Robles, and Grover Beach become San Francisco, which will give them more to complain about. Templeton, Cayucos, and Pismo Beach, coming to you soon. San Miguel, eh, not interested.


38

Guessing SLO City Attorney Christine Dietrick will be getting another raise real soon.


33

I think what we are really seeing is a version of the military-industrial complex only it’s the homeless-government complex. The more homeless, the more money gets doled out in grants, etc. and the more middle-class jobs this creates for non-homeless people. If we were to add up all the funds that allegedly have gone to end homelessness, these people would be living somewhere in a property they OWNED.

Yes, I realize this sounds very mean spirited, but my frustration is not so much directed at the homeless (although I am as frustrated as anyone else on this matter) but on bureaucrats who are building empires on the backs of these people while the concerns of citizens regarding the rampant drug abuse, crime and other social ills accompanying homelessness go unaddressed.


91

Thank you. The last paragraph, especially the last line, is the root of the problem. I have been in ministries for years serving those in need. The number one issue without a doubt are addictions. The addictions lead to hopelessness, depression, no desire to change your ways and then mental illness. The instability in their lives from this prevents them for getting a job or keeping one if they do.


We now have no desire to attack the drug problem that is causing so many of the problems we have in our society. Instead of our cowardly politicians on both sides making tougher drug laws and sentences, they are wanting more and more to legalize and promote drug use for profit, along with providing paraphernalia and places to partake in this deadly politically made scenario.


The very ones they claim to care about while they bloviate on camera or social media, are the ones who are suffering the most. Look at the corruption for profit locally by politicians and times that 100-fold nationally.


14

Not mean-spirited at all. I used to volunteer to feed the homeless and anyone else at no cost to the government. Then the EOC, a fraudulent and fully corrupt organization that has since changed it’s name, got a contact to replace the FREE faith and community-based services for $26,000/yr. It is now $62,000,000/yr. Dozens of 6 figure do-nothing jobs. Sweet.


24

You are spot on, this is common actually and there are many books on how local government embezzlement of homeless monies and taxes occur through bogus NFP or other orgs paying their higher ups hundreds of thousand, slum lord housing, etc.


18

That’s funny because the lawsuit is representing 5 plaintiffs plus a local Non-Profit. Therefore the lawsuit is representing at the very least, 5 individuals whom are currently experiencing homelessness. I personally know all 5.


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