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I have a great deal of respect for Carol Denney and all of her work over the years as an advocate for the homeless and for social justice. However, I have some disagreement with her characterization of my proposal on the Homeless Task Force recommendations coming to the Berkeley City Council on November 17th.  

In the wake of 2012’s Measure S, I proposed that the City convene a task force to bring together community stakeholders to discuss and develop solutions to homelessness. I felt that Measure S was a reactive proposal that did not develop real solutions to reduce homelessness, and that there were real issues to discuss. In the summer of 2013, I convened the first meeting of the Berkeley Homeless Task Force at a meeting attended by roughly 100 people. Over the following two years, hundreds of Berkeley residents (homeless persons, service providers, business owners, city commissioners, faith leaders, students and others) participated in a series of meetings focusing on not only specific segments of Berkeley’s homeless population, but also on identified needs of the homeless. 

Towards the end of the first phase of the Task Force, we held a series of meetings in which the Task Force members reviewed the Homeless Task Force report (click on a link here to read the report), prioritized the different recommendations into Tier 1 (short term) and Tier 2 (long term) and reached a consensus about approving the report. Carol Denney actively participated in these sessions and provided valuable input into the report.  

We did include at her suggestion a section on “Criminalization of the Homeless” because we felt it was important to speak out against laws and enforcement that target homeless people and further escalate the cycle of poverty and trauma.  

Since the Task Force report was written in May of this year, Ms. Denney correctly points out in her recent opinion piece (“Council Member Arreguin's Report Distorts Homeless Task Force Work”) that both the federal Department of Justice, in a court case out of Utah, and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development have issued statements urging cities to not pass laws criminalizing natural human acts such as sleeping and carrying possessions. HUD has said federal funds will be reduced for cities that pass such laws, putting Berkeley and Alameda County in a position to lose needed federal funds to address homelessness.  

Also on the same night (Tuesday, November 17th) that the Homeless Task Force report will be voted on, the Berkeley City Council will be considering two proposals from Council member Linda Maio which will further criminalize the homeless. While I do not agree with Ms. Denney that the report “distorts” or “misrepresents” the work of the Task Force, I do think she has a good point in recommending that my proposal should include the recommendations on criminalization. Based on her suggestion I will be amending my proposal to also prioritize the recommendations on criminalization.  

I appreciate the work of everyone who has participated in the Task Force process, including Ms. Denney. Both my staff and I have spent hundreds of hours on this process because we care and want to find compassionate approaches that will end homelessness, rather than divisive proposals like Measure S. All of us put a lot of faith in this process, and put a great deal of time, energy and good ideas on the table. I think we came up with a visionary, thoughtful proposal that can help significantly reduce homelessness in our city.  

At a time when this problem is worse than ever, we should be focusing on real solutions, not on passing misguided laws. I think it is critical that the Homeless Task Force report come for an up or down vote on November 17th. The Council should have a thoughtful, positive approach to consider, not simply reactive measures which will cause harm and not solve the problem.