City Council to consider new program to mandate treatment for homeless, mentally ill

Four San Diego City Council members are calling on their colleagues to support a proposed program that would force mentally ill homeless people into treatment or conservatorship through the city attorney's office.

The proposed Conservatorship and Treatment Unit was requested by City Attorney Mara Elliott as an expansion of her office's Lifesaving Intervention for Treatment program, which has placed 11 people into conservatorship over the past two years and is evaluating 22 others.

The new unit would focus exclusively on homeless people with mental problems and potentially could reach many more people than the existing city attorney program. In May, City Council members Jennifer Campbell and Marni von Wilpert formerly proposed the new unit and requested Mayor Todd Gloria allocate $500,000 to staff it in the city's budget for fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1.

Gloria instead allocated $547,000 for the program in his revised budget released last week, and the full City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed budget June 13.

In a press conference Friday morning at City Hall, Campbell and von Wilpert were joined by fellow City Council members Stephen Whitburn and Raul Campillo to urge the other five council members to support the plan.

Von Wilpert said she had not discussed the proposal with the other five council members, and the four who showed support for it were the most who could attend a press conference together under California's Brown Act restrictions on elected officials.

The unit would consist of two deputy city attorneys and one newly hired treatment coordinator who would assess a person's condition and recommend an appropriate treatment. In severe cases, the county can petition a judge to appoint a conservator to oversee a person's medication, financial decisions and other activities.

In less severe cases, the city can petition probate court to appoint a public guardian to oversee a person's health, shelter and welfare.

People in a conservatorship may be placed in a locked facility, but the program also could lead to people receiving outpatient treatment or placement in a group home, a serial inebriate program or a skilled nursing facility.

It's not clear how many people could receive some sort of treatment through the new unit, but Campbell said it may be hundreds considering the many options.

The four council members said the new unit would focus on a small percent of the city of San Diego's homeless population, which was 4,800 in this year's count of people living in shelters and outdoors.

They also appeared prepared for any push-back against the plan, as any type of move toward loosening conservatorship rules has been met with resistance from people and groups concerned about civil rights and forced treatment.

"We're going to have a clear matrix on who qualifies and what steps will be taken to make sure this program is not abused," Campillo said.

"Some folks have said this might violate some people's civil rights," he continued. "I disagree. I think what we're going to be doing is vindicating people's human rights to not be treated like trash and left out."

"Conservatorships are not about control," von Wilpert said. "They're about having an advocate for someone who has no family and no friends to help him."

When the proposal was first announced, Interfaith Community Services CEO Greg Anglea said he was cautious about using conservatorships on all but a small percent of people, and he instead advocates for greater outreach and services.

People also have pushed back against Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to create a Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) court that could result in conservatorships and mandated treatment.

Opponents to the proposed court include ACLU California Action, Disability Rights California, Western Center on Law & Poverty and more than 30 other groups.

The four council members at Friday's press conference described the unit as something that would be rarely used but was desperately need for a small group of homeless people.

"We are taking this action because letting people with severe mental health disorders fend for themselves in the street is not compassionate," Campbell said. "It's cruel."

"This is a tool only for specific individuals who may really need it," von Wilpert said. "But this conservatorship program may be the very first tie a homeless individual gets to the actual treatment that they need."

Von Wilpert said the unit would focus on people who often seek help through emergency services, but never get the long-term help they need. She said the new effort also will save significant tax dollars by helping people who otherwise would be served by ambulances and emergency rooms.

Whitburn, whose council district includes downtown San Diego and Balboa Park, said the need for the new unit can easily be seen.

"Every day we see people on our streets who clearly have severe mental issues and who pose a danger to themselves or others," he said. "We feel helpless because these individuals cannot take care of themselves, and there's no way to get them the help that they need. They need medical care and they need housing, and conservatorship may be the only way to ensure that they receive it."

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

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