Rule of law as a basis for civilized and compassionate living - what a novel concept.

From ‘Where did they go?’ San Diego now enforcing homeless camping ban by Blake Nelson.  The subheading is Although officials said they’ve just focused on Balboa Park, there have already been notable changes in the encampment landscape.  

Illustrating once more that a homeless crisis anywhere in the US in this time is almost always a matter of public policy choice, almost always exacerbated by well-meaning but destructive self-interest of advocacy and NGO groups.  

Police began enforcing San Diego’s controversial new camping ban Monday, and although officials said they’ve so far focused only on Balboa Park, the new ordinance combined with other enforcement of laws long on the books has already made notable changes in the encampment landscape.

The “Unsafe Camping Ordinance” allows officers to force people off public land if they’re sleeping within two blocks of a school, shelter, trolley station, waterway or park “where a substantial public health and safety risk is determined.”

Capt. Shawn Takeuchi, head of the city’s neighborhood policing division, said his five-member team did arrest several homeless people Monday by Balboa Park, but only for existing warrants.

Apparently San Diego has a serious homeless problem.  There are plenty of shelters, but the homeless choose not to use them.  The City Council has recently elected to something about it by enforcing already existing laws complemented by a new ordinance based on public health.

On the first day of enforcement.

Nobody in Balboa Park accepted offers for shelter Monday, the captain added. Enforcement will continue to focus on schools and parks in the near future, and officials declined to say where the team might move next.

Apparently, to the surprise of most the experts in providing services to the homeless, the mere announcement of the new enforcement has dramatically reduced the homeless population on the streets, returning those public spaces to the public and to commerce.

He was especially surprised by how empty Commercial Street was, and the CEO said outreach teams were still surveying the city. “They’re scramblin’ around to figure out where everybody went.”

Commercial Street had once been so clogged that tents and tarps spilled onto the road. Yet at one point Monday, the only movement came from a pair of officers crossing the road. One said in passing that the encampment had been cleared a few days ago.

City and police representatives said that change had nothing to do with the camping ban. Although a new “No Camping” sign is on Commercial, a prerequisite to enforcement, officials said the road was cleared because of existing laws against blocking streets, not the result of a special operation.

Even the mere announcement that something would be done in the future was an effective deterrent to urban camping.

Even before the ban took effect, one survey found the number of homeless people downtown had dropped by almost a fifth, potentially because of the coming enforcement.

In summary, San Diego had a severe problem with urban camping which badly affected the lives of residents, suppressed commerce, and created public health hazards.  They chose to start enforcing the existing laws and the number of homeless dropped dramatically.  The NGOs who symbiotically depend on the urban campers for their raison dêtre and financial sustenance (through city contracts) did not understand how the decrease could have occurred.  

Rule of law as a basis for civilized and compassionate living - what a novel concept.