Homelessness in our own backyard, San Luis Obispo County

November 8, 2024

OPINION by BEN JACKSON

California’s Gov. Gavin Newson filed a suit on Nov. 4 against Norwalk County, calling its ban on new homeless shelters “beyond cruel.” This comes at a time when nearly 30% of the nation’s 653,000 homeless reside in the state of California.

Nowadays, visiting San Francisco without seeing human feces is a rare occurrence. What’s the cause? A lack of affordable housing, the worsening mental health crisis, and a fatal drug and alcohol problem have led to an underserved homeless population.

Although displaced people are found in every corner of the globe, I believe we should address those in our backyard first. An increase in political priority for homelessness through the development of transitional centers with therapists and career coaches would be a necessary win-win scenario for both California and our country to tackle homelessness and the structural inequity that accompanies it.

The West, particularly the United States, is seen globally as both a pioneer and a champion of human rights, preaching “liberty and justice for all.” Why is it, then, that the number of people living on the streets with little or no access to sanitation, food, or water in this country equals the population of Wyoming?

A recent Harvard study notes that 92% of Americans agree that citizens should have a “right to the basic necessities of life.” This apparent human rights culture should, in theory, lead to human rights norms being respected. However, in reality, people and institutions tend to treat the homeless like animals, shooing them further and further from their backyards and avoiding contact at all costs. To me, this does not seem to match our national pledge of “justice for all.”

What’s causing this inequity? In my hometown of San Luis Obispo (SLO) on the Central Coast of California, part of the rapid rise in rates of homelessness can be attributed to the lack of affordable housing. SLO’s average housing prices sit 51.7% above the national average, only allowing 19% of families to afford a medium-priced home.

This lack of affordable housing leads to 38.6 out of 10,000 being homeless, which is double the national average. Being the second least affordable small-metro area in the nation and an area where job growth is forecast to be under 1% for the next few years, SLO is the definition of economically driven homelessness. Adding to this headwind, SLO residents hold a strong not in my backyard (NIMBY) sentiment due to worries about safety since the unsheltered have overtaken multiple areas downtown, such as public parks and trails.

So, where are the unsheltered supposed to go? Residents are firmly against their presence, and counties have not done enough to accommodate them- it’s turned into a lose-lose situation. However, there is an achievable solution.

As of 2019, SLO could shelter only 20-30% of people observed as homeless; hence, SLO proportionally has the third-largest unsheltered population in the nation and requires urgent solutions.

What’s needed is a renovation of vacant office spaces into a hostel-style transitional space with therapists and career coaches provided. After multiple weeks in these alternative shelters, career coaches could assist the unsheltered in getting into the workforce and then, gradually, graduating to state-sponsored fixed rent or subsidized affordable housing. I’m confident that this care and integration would eliminate homelessness and reverse some of the economic, social, and racial inequities that cause it.

In 2022, I had the opportunity to serve the Salvation Army in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through conversations with rehab patients and ex-homeless, I learned of the desperate need for therapists and career coaches to help them deal with tasks like parenting, mental health, and job search.

One man in particular, named Red, had been to rehab 28 times, and none of it had been effective; he consistently relapsed. I’d argue that homeless shelters currently function similarly, patching a long-term problem with a band-aid solution. Red desperately craved advice on how to parent his daughter, who was 28 at the time (and already in jail). It’s our responsibility to listen to these calls for help and make doable changes to set people like Red and his children on an upward trajectory and free them from the generational cycle of poverty and instability.

One valid counterargument would come from the hardworking taxpayer who claims the fruits of their labor should not go to these transitional programs to help those who are perceived as lazy and have been destroyed by drugs and alcohol. Proactively addressing homelessness through offering structured support and career pathways would change lives and reduce costs in the long run, lessening the burden on taxpayers for homeless healthcare, law enforcement, and emergency services: a true win-win.

Red from Baton Rouge shared with me that he started selling drugs on behalf of his parents at age five. Age five! He had nearly zero chances of success from day one, so why should we blame him for his unfortunate past? The increasing wealth gap in the United States just adds to this intergenerational structural inequity we see today, which is solvable on a political level.

Article 17 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that no one should be arbitrarily deprived of his property, but we see that counties like Norwalk are currently banning the development of homeless shelters, the only property that the homeless can rely on. Gavin Newsom made it clear that he is an advocate for solving homelessness through his lawsuit of Norwalk. This rhetoric is a step in the right direction; however, I’m arguing that shelters are not enough- these people desperately need state-sponsored therapists and career coaches to talk through their problems and set them up for success.

Providing these transitional centers and resources in a community like SLO that experiences a staggering level of unsheltered homelessness is essentially a win-win for everyone. SLO’s homeless community will begin to heal, become integrated into the workforce, and hopefully graduate into fixed/subsidized rent affordable housing, building a life path on an upward trajectory. People like Red from Louisiana are all over the country- their voices need to be heard.

Ben Jackson is a lifelong San Luis Obispo County resident who is currently attending Boston College with a major in economics and international studies.