Residents sue San Diego over tent encampment conditions

From CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall:

As California cities increasingly crack down on homeless encampments, most still lack enough shelter beds. So, in order to give people a place to go that isn’t a city street, some places are creating sanctioned camps, where people sleep on a designated lot in tents purchased by the city.

But a federal lawsuit filed in San Diego this week claims the city’s two camps (which have nearly 800 tents) force people to live in uninhabitable and inhumane conditions. 

Residents have complained of extreme heat in the summer and cold and flooding in the winter, overcrowding, inadequate meals and rat infestations that lead to rats crawling over them at night, according to the complaint.

• Ann Menasche, the lawyer who filed the suit: “This is an unsafe, unsanitary environment that is actually hurting people’s health and lives. It needs to stop.”

Menasche brought the lawsuit on behalf of eight unhoused plaintiffs with disabilities who say the poor conditions at the camps have exacerbated their health conditions. One 49-year-old man said he can’t plug in his CPAP machine at night, and complained the food isn’t suitable for managing his diabetes. A 59-year-old woman who uses a walker said she couldn’t bathe for two months because the one handicap shower at the site was out of order.

• Matt Hoffman, city spokesperson, in an emailed statement: “The City takes any claim of potential violations or unsafe conditions seriously. The safety and wellbeing of individuals served through the Safe Sleeping Program has, and always will be, the top priority.”

He said pest control visits the sites several times a month, and on the last visit, in July, confirmed there is no infestation. 

San Diego’s safe sleeping sites provide meals and give residents access to bathrooms, showers, security and case workers who can help them find permanent housing. They opened immediately before the city imposed new restrictions on camping on public property.

Other California cities are adopting this approach. San Jose, which was inspired by San Diego’s model, is building its first sanctioned camp for up to 56 people.

As Sacramento contemplates extending California’s carbon trading program, a new provision in the Assembly-based bill — one of two now making the rounds — would change the California Climate Credit, a line-item rebate that investor-owned utilities pay to homeowners, renters and small businesses.

Funded by carbon auctions, the credit shows up twice a year and is pegged between about $50 and $80. Lawmakers now are proposing tweaks to the credit that would prioritize residential customers, pay out cash during high-bill months and base the dollar amount on energy use.

Rather than handing out “relatively moderate” cash payments, said climate law expert Ethan Elkind, “the Legislature could instead use the same dollars to create a far bigger impact on rates and the environment.” Elkind, who directs the climate program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, wrote that the state could redirect climate cash toward financing energy efficiency instead.

From CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay:

Unemployment claims surged after the L.A. County wildfires in January, with about 11,000 people in the county and surrounding counties filing new claims in the weeks after the deadly blazes, a new report shows.

New unemployment insurance claims rose from about 5,000 the week before the fires to about 12,000 in the first week after the fires, and stayed higher for several weeks, according to an analysis by the University of California’s California Policy Lab. 

More than 5,200 workers who normally wouldn’t be eligible for regular unemployment benefits — such as gig workers, contractors and self-employed workers — filed claims for disaster unemployment assistance. 

The biggest initial spike in claims came from workers in the accommodation and food services industries. Researchers also noted increases in claims by workers in health care, social assistance and real estate. The surge in claims came mostly from ZIP codes directly affected by the fires, but also from surrounding areas such as Central and South L.A., from where workers likely commuted to the fire-affected areas.