Gordon Mullin: Homelessness is on the rise in SLO County, and it’s our fault

“I got a right to be here” growled the homeless gentleman I was talking to just off the trail near our sewage plant. I was riding my bike along the path and he hailed me down for a chat. Turns out he actually wanted to hit me up for money, but I stayed briefly for the conversation.

He was from another state but had heard life was better on the Central Coast. I agreed with him and then asked what he would do if the cops asked him to move. He first reasserted his rights, paused, then shrugged his shoulders and said he’d probably just find another place.

There have always been folks who had no place to call home, but the numbers have climbed in the last 20 years, especially in California. Estimates run between 150,000 to over one-quarter million in our golden state today.

You’ve heard the “whys” many times: drugs, alcoholism, mental health, job loss, medical bills, didn’t pay the rent or mortgage, marital breakups, criminal convictions, can’t function in society.

Admittedly, that’s a quick overview. The pertinent question I’d like us to consider today is this: In what way do our institutions, laws and expectations add to the problem?

What’s our fault, as voters and influencers of our local and state governments?

The readers of this missive are highly unlikely to be homeless. We’re the one’s who pay taxes and vote. We have the ultimate power through the ballot box. What should we, through our governments, do to mitigate the problem?

This being California, let’s start with our dysfunctional housing laws and regulations. Every effort to build housing in our state is met with ever-increasing regulations, zoning restrictions, angry neighbors, escalating fees, costly regulatory delays and layers of administrative bodies that demand homage and paperwork.

We also allowed, through legislation and court action, the dismemberment of mental institutions that housed those who cannot function in general society. There is a good argument that some who were forced into our institutions should not have been, but we’ve gone too far in the other direction.

Our guys in blue have to deal with the fallout of our mistaken over-reach in the ‘80s when we opened the doors of our mental institutions and failed to provide appropriate alternatives. We did that.

Another ancillary mistake is the legislative removal of appropriate responses to criminal behavior.

I can steal, in broad daylight, a $200 shopping cart from a grocery store and the likelihood of a negative legal response is zip. Nothing.

I am reminded of the adage, “Every dysfunctional behavior that is tolerated is encouraged.”

Just as we no longer demand our fellow citizens cannot defecate in the civic space — a public health mandate 2000 years in the making — we no longer embrace that the solutions to these problems lie with us. We say it’s someone else’s dilemma. Politicians perhaps? Not me and thee.

Not everyone will embrace these sentiments. I will no doubt hear that the homeless and the criminals should be given extra latitude because of ... fill in the blank. And I am inclined to agree. Yes, give consideration, but only up to a point.

We’ve gone too far. We accept aberrant behavior that even 20 years ago would not have been endured.

You and I have the power of the ballot box. There’s an election coming up in two months and we, collectively, have the opportunity to steer our ship of state onto a different course.

Please, embrace the opportunity. We have the power and the responsibility.

Gordon Mullin is a SLO High grad and has a degree in economics from the University of British Columbia. Among the 40 or so jobs he’s held in his life — including banker, carpenter, investment planner — he says taxi driver best fits his character.