Tami Rule stands outside the vehicle she lives in along Sandpebble Drive on April 3, 2024 in San Jose, Calif. The city of San Jose has launched a pilot program to use AI to identify lived-in RVs and homeless camps.
Some people struggling with an addiction or mental illness aren’t ready to live in a permanent affordable housing unit on their own. Many survivors of domestic violence won’t ever feel safe in a congregate shelter. Most of our chronically homeless neighbors need time to reacclimate to living indoors before they’re ready for a place of their own. A few of our most vulnerable residents simply need help getting a plane ride home to family.
And this year, we don’t have a choice in the matter. We must invest in faster approaches, because recent regulatory mandates mean monumental penalties if we don’t eliminate pollution entering our waterways — 88% of which comes from people living in unmanaged, unsheltered conditions along our waterways.
We have no other choice than to make the right choice to clear encampments along our waterways and get people into dignified shelter. If we don’t, our city attorney warns, we could face penalties of up to $66,000 per day per pollutant.