Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Warren Slocum, District 4
Supervisor Dave Pine, District 1
Subject: Hopeful Horizons: Empowering Lives Initiative Ordinance Regulating Encampments on Public Property in the Unincorporated Areas of San Mateo County
RECOMMENDATION:
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Introduce the Hopeful Horizons: Empowering Lives Initiative, an ordinance adding a new Chapter 3.109 to Title 3 of the San Mateo County Ordinance Code regulating encampments on public property in the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County, and waive reading of the ordinance in its entirety.
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BACKGROUND:
The County is dedicated to reaching and maintaining Functional Zero homelessness, where every unsheltered homeless person in San Mateo County who chooses assistance will be provided interim or permanent housing. A key part of that goal involves appropriately addressing homeless encampments, which are plagued by fire risks, unsanitary conditions, public safety hazards, and environmental degradation; are unsafe and unhealthy for individuals living in them; and make surrounding communities less safe and less healthy.
The County recognizes that homelessness is connected to trauma in a number of ways, as individuals and families experiencing homelessness face the daily trauma of not knowing whether they will be able to sleep in a safe environment or obtain regular meals; are highly vulnerable to violence, victimization, and adverse health outcomes; and a disproportionate number of those experiencing homelessness have suffered past forms of trauma, such as child abuse and domestic violence.
Thus, when engaging with homeless individuals living in encampments, the County employs, and will continue to employ, multi-disciplinary outreach teams who are trained to utilize trauma-informed care, an evidence-based practice that recognizes the trauma associated with homelessness and focuses on tenets...
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