Life preserver image via pxhere.com

The Fresno City Council will consider Thursday afternoon a litany of measures aimed at addressing homelessness, all presented under the umbrella of a proposed state of emergency.

But at least one public official expressed concern this week about emergency proclamation fatigue.

“What this is going to do is two things,” said Fresno City Councilman Luis Chavez, one of the measures’ sponsors. “We’re invoking this to protect the public health and well-being of our residents. But there’s a practical and application side of this, so to speak.”

Chavez said voting on the emergency sends the message locally that elected officials are acting on the problem. It also sends the message to the state and federal government that help is needed.

Under the emergency declaration, the Council will also consider three different items aimed at making housing development easier and making legal the City’s ability to force some unhoused people into shelters. The items are scheduled to be heard Thursday afternoon.

The first item being considered would create templates for housing units that would not need to go through the standard permitting processes, said Chavez.

Developers would be able to pick from “pre-approved” and “pre-vetted” housing units. Doing so could shrink the permitting process from up to two years down to eight to 10 months, Chavez said. He added four different complexes exist in his Southeast Fresno district that look virtually the same.

“It boggles my mind … why you can’t take that exact same product that has already been vetted, that has already been scrutinized and has already been determined to have met code, and just build it somewhere else without having to go through that second layer of bureaucratic process all over again,” Chavez said.

Templates would be “very flexible” and scalable in denominations of 10.

Chavez also wants to grandfather in mother-in-law additions made before such accessory dwelling units were given by-right zoning in 2021.

A law took effect in 2021 that said cities could not enact zoning laws to prevent such additions from being built. But Chavez said many of those converted garages or backyard units were built before the law took effect. The measure would grandfather those units in. Owners would have to have inspections to make sure units are up to code.

Chavez wants the response to the emergency declaration to go beyond increasing housing stock.

He says the affordable housing crisis has created a health crisis.

The 2022 Point In Time Count from the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care approximates the number of homeless people in the two counties at 4,216 people either unsheltered or in emergency housing.

Analysts estimate about 19% of the homeless population have a serious mental illness.

Chavez said the city should focus on the mentally ill first — as they have the highest needs.

Chavez said many have a mental health issue or substance abuse issue “that can’t take care of themselves or are in danger of hurting themselves or other people.”

While he admitted it is not illegal to be homeless, it is illegal “spit on shoppers, harass kids walking on their way to school and urinate and defecate in public.”

The Supreme Court of the United States decided that cities cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if they don’t have available shelter beds for the homeless population.

The Fresno City Council will consider opening the Selland Arena with cots, similar to how they converted it to overflow hospital space during Covid. Putting cots out in the downtown arena would be enough to take transients off the street, Chavez said. There, the City would be able to provide services.

In a similar vein, a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom tasks the individual counties with setting up courts to address the needs of people with severe mental illnesses. Called CARE Courts — Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment — Senate Bill 1338 allows family members and health workers to petition the court to force people with severe mental illness into treatment. Plans for these courts must be outlined by the end of 2024.

While the total number of homeless people increased, the amount of unsheltered people in 2022 declined from 2020, according to the Point in Time Count, with 2,338 unsheltered compared to 2,681 in 2020. A 2021 count was not done due to Covid. Those numbers are based on extrapolations. In the County of Fresno, only 27 people were considered emergency sheltered, compared to 1,701 in the City of Fresno. Within city limits there were 1,696 unsheltered compared to 514 in the county. Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias has often bemoaned the lack of emergency housing by the County of Fresno.

In 2022, the amount of emergency and transitional housing doubled from the previous year, according to the Point In Time Count. There were 5,101 units in 2022 compared to 2,841 in 2021. Despite this growth, operators of HomeKey properties — converted motels to shelters — have reported in the past near-100% occupancy.

This week, in considering whether Fresno County should declare an emergency situation over the lack of available hospital beds, Supervisor Steve Brandau cautioned against creating a “cry wolf” type of problem.

He discussed previous emergency declarations from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors over the 2020 Creek Fire, and the Covid-19 emergency earlier that year. He said those were emergencies, then brought up the “affordable housing” emergency proclamation proposed by the Fresno City Council.

While he voted in favor of the hospital bed emergency, he felt too many emergencies could render future proclamations meaningless.

“I have some heart burn with that,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Chavez said he wanted people to know they are being heard when it comes to issues of homelessness.

“We all have a problem that we’re trying to solve and we’ve tried it for a number of years,” Chavez said. “I think everyone is doing great work, but we haven’t tackled the No. 1 issue that makes this problem worse and that’s affordable housing.”