In the county of San Bernardino, one of the most acute crisis’ in leadership and homelessness is unfolding at a rapid rate. That regional trend should ring alarm bells for policy makers and citizenry alike.
Recently, for example, the public safety issues surrounding unmitigated mental illness were raised in the burning death of a man caused by another homeless individual. Additionally, people suffering from mental illness and homelessness simultaneously often cause great harm to themselves and their immediate community.
Literal State of Emergency
In southern California, a literal state of emergency has been called throughout large and medium sized cities.
On February 1, the City of San Bernardino unanimously voted to declare a State of Emergency due to Homelessness, according to KVCR, after counting to justify the need for outside help: “We must focus our efforts, implement our plan, and demand nothing less than better results. A solution will take the skills and resources of many partners.
“Our emergency declaration makes it clear that San Bernardino, its leadership, its staff and its residents, are beyond our limit for what we are willing to accept. We are committed to addressing homelessness,” said Mayor Tran to California Globe.
Video on City of San Bernardino homelessness:
This comes after a similar State of Emergency declaration was emanated from the City of Los Angeles, then in Los Angeles County and Long Beach. It is also taken into account that, according to the San Bernardino Sun, from 2020 to 2022 there was an increase of 6.6%. 79.2% lived in Barstow, Colton, Fontana, Ontario, Redlands, San Bernardino or Victorville. 47% of the people surveyed said they were first homeless in the City of San Bernardino.
It is important to consider that Governor Newsom, in November, asked to improve the goals and with it, the strategy to address homelessness, threatening to withhold the assigned fund. NGOs and service groups reached an agreement, so that the funds were released. And Caltrans is requesting a larger budget for the activities it already does, but also to have a “Homeless Solutions Team” of 17 people. What is possibly putting more pressure on short-term solutions (to avoid increasing that budget) and using it in other activities.
In many areas, the sheer amount of homeless encampments where drug abuse, sickness, and even child abuse, run rampant. The lack of clarity or policy that deals with the root cause of homelessness, in our view, rampant fentanyl and drug addiction is likely the largest contributing factor.
