A new court system in California is taking a new approach to homelessness, vagrancy, and the mental illnesses that often plague those living on the street.
Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court is a civil court program that will make it easier for state officials to intervene on behalf of the homeless population who are mentally ill to get treatment. The state is prepared to spend up to $215 million on the program.
California’s crisis of homelessness and vagrancy has only grown worse in the last half-decade, despite the state spending $20 billion of taxpayer money to house the homeless over the past five years.
Homelessness has reached disastrous levels in California cities like Los Angeles, which has an estimated homeless population of 69,000 people.
Supporters have characterized the CARE Court program as a compromise between harsher punishments such as jail time and conservatorship, which remove nearly all autonomy from an individual, and a complete abandonment of enforcement, which enables the homeless and vagrants to continue living on the street.
“We don’t need something that’s just chipping away at the problem, but a new focus on longer-term solutions to it,” said Director of San Diego County’s Behavioral Health Services Luke Bergmann. “What we do know is that things are not working right now.”
“The transformation has to be radical,” he said, per The Washington Post.
According to a fact sheet from the State of California, CARE Court connects a mentally ill individual with a court-ordered “Care plan” that lasts up to 12 months.
The plan can include interventions, counseling, medication, and a housing plan along wither other supportive services. Participants can also be provided with legal counsel.
“CARE Court is designed on the evidence that many people can stabilize, begin healing, and exit homelessness in less restrictive, community-based care settings,” according to the fact sheet, which describes the program as a “long-term strategy” for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
Much criticism has already been raised in response to the initiative. Nonprofit Disability Rights California objected to the lack of housing included in the program and to its basis on only certain mental health issues.
In a petition filed with the Supreme Court, the nonprofit noted, “Both the counties and opponents of the Care Act shared this concern about a respondent’s inability to progress or even participate if remaining unhoused,” according to The Washington Post.
Additionally, “No other California mental health statute distinguishes between individuals based on a diagnosis rather than severity of need,” the filing claimed.
Under the CARE program, relatives, mental health professionals, police officers, and others will be able to petition the court for intervention with an individual. The individual does not need to consent to a petition being filed.
Within two weeks, a clinician will determine whether the individual in question qualifies for the program.
“Individuals exiting a short-term involuntary hospital hold or an arrest may be especially good candidates for CARE Court,” the fact sheet reads. “Participants who do not successfully complete Care Plans may, under current law, be hospitalized or referred to conservatorship.”
Jail time could also be a consequence faced by those who chose to leave the program after being ordered to complete it by a court.
The Case Court system must be operational in eight California counties by October, as state officials estimate roughly 12,000 could qualify for the program, as reported by The Washington Post.
Here in Dallas, even an elected leader, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, has said the City government fails in its efforts to help the homeless and vagrant population because of its lack of enforcement.
She has previously said that the City is “not doing enforcement that’s necessary,” and its failure to address homeless and vagrant encampments is making her constituents “extremely frustrated,” as reported by The Dallas Express.
Polling conducted by The Dallas Express has shown that municipal voters believe homelessness and vagrancy are among the city’s most serious problems.
While California rolls out the CARE Court program, one strategy that has proven successful in San Antonio with the nonprofit Haven For Hope is a “one-stop-shop” that provides services for the homeless in one contained geographic location.
This model is favored by Dallas residents, according to polling conducted by The Dallas Express.