East Palo Alto mayor seeks to reduce homelessness

The body of Santiago Gonzalez, a 51-year-old unhoused man, was found in Martin Luther King Jr. Park in November 2020 in what was ruled as a homicide.

“If Santiago had a permanent roof over his head, he would still be here,” Lopez said.

Just last month, a 60-year-old unhoused man named James Allen Rudolph was found dead in a Palo Alto parking garage. An autopsy revealed he died of blunt force trauma. Another unhoused person has been arrested on suspicion of killing Rudolph, according to the Palo Alto Police Department.

Last week, Lopez proposed his ideas to reduce the unhoused population in his city, including introducing an encampment clearing ordinance that would give unhoused individuals in encampments at least two written warnings and two offers of shelter before being cleared.

Lopez’s proposal comes at a time when he is also seeking to be elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors for District 4. He finished second in the March primary for the seat behind East Palo Alto City Councilmember Lisa Gauthier and the two are vying for the seat in November’s runoff election.

Lopez stressed the need to work with other cities for the plan to be effective.

“East Palo Alto will not and cannot solve this crisis alone,” Lopez said. “I will be working with elected officials and begin the process to introduce a joint powers authority in cities across Santa Clara County and San Mateo County.”

While Lopez emphasized collaborating with other cities, at least one of his colleagues — his opponent Gauthier in the November runoff — said he is not collaborating with his own peers on the East Palo Alto City Council.

“I don’t know his ideas because he hasn’t shared them with the council,” Gauthier said in an interview. Although the council is in recess this month, they “did have a special council meeting just this week and it wasn’t brought up then either.”

Gauthier said that this kind of work needs to be done with a comprehensive plan and approach in cooperation with San Mateo County, the City Council and homeless outreach organizations.

“The county should be at the seat being a part of that conversation. There are nonprofits that do homeless work that should be a part of that conversation that are not being included in the plans, if there is a plan,” she said.

San Mateo County has been working at reducing homelessness and introduced an ordinance earlier this year called “Hopeful Horizons: Empowering Lives Initiative,” from which Lopez is modeling his own idea.

The county’s ordinance makes it a misdemeanor for people to live in an encampment on public property after receiving at least two written warnings and two offers of shelter. However, it’s only enforceable in unincorporated parts of the county unless cities decide to adopt it.

Gauthier is unsure why Lopez is not working with the county to enforce this ordinance.

“The county already has a plan in place that they’re working on, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel,” she said.

While Lopez did not specify details on what to do if someone denies homeless outreach services, he did describe how it could be funded.

If cities agree to a mutual aid partnership, a collective fund will be established whereby cities will add in a share of their own money to pool resources.

“In this plan, cities will pay for their fair share of membership, an amount which will be calculated based on several factors, including a city’s size, budget, the number of unhoused on average and other critical criteria,” Lopez said.

In turn, participating cities will have expanded access to resources to direct unhoused people to the appropriate services, whether it be permanent supportive housing, shelters, street outreach or mental health treatment through regional organizations such as StarVista, LifeMoves, Samaritan House and WeHOPE.

Lopez also emphasized a need for flexibility in the plan so that cities can set their own limits to how much money and resources they want to share.

According to Lopez, each city will be able to decide if they want to opt out of certain services and if they want to only fund a certain percentage of their budget.

“I want this partnership to be as open as possible, because I want it to have as little barriers as possible so folks can access each other’s resources,” he said.

With no cities yet supporting the plan outright and a lack of comprehensive details at the forefront, it begs the question whether he is introducing the idea in an effort to gain support and recognition in his bid to grab a seat on the county Board of Supervisors this November.

Lopez didn’t directly respond to whether this is a campaign move, but said the timing of his plan coincides with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order for state agencies to clear homeless encampments that was issued in late July.

“Moreover, as winter approaches, I am gravely concerned that cities across the Peninsula do not act and are therefore negligent in protecting the lives of the unhoused,” he said.

Additionally, Lopez needs to get the approval of the East Palo Alto City Council to pass the ordinance. While he’s been eager to get out his ideas to the media via two press conferences so far, he apparently has not yet informed the council that will ultimately decide if the plan can be implemented.

At the park during Wednesday’s press conference, Lopez stood alone.

“Most mayors would definitely make sure that it’s a collaborative approach,” Gauthier said. “Most people who do these press conferences will have people behind them to show collaboration with others.”

Over the next several weeks, Lopez will be advocating his plan to other mayors and city councilmembers, he said.