National City Council to vote on proposed homeless encampment ban
NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — National City could become the latest municipality in the county to adopt a homeless encampment ban.
On Tuesday, the National City Council will meet to discuss a proposed ordinance that would make it illegal for unhoused residents to reside in encampments as long as shelter beds are available.
As it stands, the ordinance would be very similar to the one adopted by the city of San Diego last year, which includes language that makes it illegal to stay within two blocks of a school, transit hub or waterway regardless of shelter availability.
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It will mark the latest in a slew of groups that have followed San Diego’s lead in adopting some form of encampment ban. Poway passed a similar ordinance last year, while some state lawmakers are exploring a way to make the rules statewide.
National City residents have mixed feelings about San Diego’s so-called “unsafe camping ordinance,” and its proposed mirror.
Some local elected officials, like National City Mayor Ron Morrison, view the law as one piece of a larger solution to the crisis.
“We’re allowing people to have every excuse under the sun,” he told FOX 5 last month. “But until you say get help or you leave, most of them aren’t going to do anything.”
However, critics of the measure point to an observed uptick by National City’s Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement Team, or HOME team, in unhoused San Diegans simply being pushed south into their city since the ordinance took effect last year.
As KPBS reported last month, the HOME team, which is comprised of a code enforcement officer and homeless service coordinator who helps connect unsheltered people with social workers, has also expressed notable concern about how an encampment ban could undermine their work.
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“I don’t see any positive outcome,” said John Brady, director of Lived Experience Advisers. “We don’t have enough of anything to resolve this issue, more importantly we just don’t have the housing.”
As of Tuesday, National City does not have any shelters within its jurisdiction. Morrison says the city plans to open one 30-day shelter with 162 beds that are open to any unhoused person in the county later this summer, operated by Rescue Mission.
The City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.
FOX 5/KUSI’s Danielle Dawson contributed to this report.
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