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Mayor Tim Keller on Friday announced a diversion program aimed at offering services and treatment to the unhoused who are cited 鈥� and often eventually arrested 鈥� for blocking sidewalks and similar city code violations.

It was the second initiative aimed toward addressing homelessness announced this week. On Tuesday, Keller said a Safe Outdoor Space was being planned for the area neighboring the West Side shelter. Much like that initiative, the city provided few specifics on the diversion program 鈥� aside from the $400,000 price tag earmarked in the city鈥檚 proposed budget.

Keller used a Friday news conference at sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department headquarters to sound the alarm about City Council amendments to the proposed budget that would cut funding for traffic safety, take more than $1 million from homeless vouchers and remove the money for the diversion program.

City Attorney Lauren Keefe said many details of the diversion program were still being ironed out. The 2nd Judicial District Attorney鈥檚 Office and Law Offices of the Public Defender, who said they approached the city with the idea, filled in some of the blanks.

The program will offer weekly open hearings at the courthouse where those cited for violating public ordinances can come in and have onsite access to city services including treatment and housing.

鈥淭he idea is, of course, acknowledging that at the end of the day we can't simply just cycle vulnerable individuals through jail and back out on the street,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淏oth of those are not the right answer and we actually developed an alternative鈥� that a court would suggest treatment instead of the court system, but also not letting folks just walk right out back onto the street.鈥�

Keller said that, since February, the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department had been testing the program and had already diverted 85 people into services of some kind.

City spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said those diversions were transporting people to Gateway West, Gateway East and the Medical Sobering Center. Another city spokesperson said the $400,000 would go toward funding the courtroom aspect, providing an attorney, paralegal and social worker.

The program comes on the heels of years of increasing enforcement by the Keller administration against those camped out on sidewalks and public property. Those cited often end up in jail on warrants issued after missed hearings, leading to a spike in the unhoused population bouncing in and out of the Metropolitan Detention Center. 

鈥淲hat we've been looking for, and what I think other people in the city have been looking for, is a way to get people to connect to resources,鈥� Keefe said. 鈥淏ut it still is an uphill battle, it's a struggle.鈥�

Keefe said the city worked with Metropolitan Court, the DA鈥檚 Office and the LOPD. LOPD, she said, would be 鈥渢aking the lead on identifying the best way to get people connected with resources.鈥�

鈥楢 revolving door鈥�

Dennica Torres, LOPD district defender, said the idea had been in the works since late last year between LOPD, the DA鈥檚 Office and Metro Court. The agencies approached the city and APD and asked if they would be on board with a diversion court where city service providers were present.

She said they proposed that officers could hand out a flyer with a citation that specified the day and location of the court hearing, letting people know they could get treatment, housing or other help.

鈥淚t's going to benefit a lot of our unhoused clients, who, for lack of having a residence and an address, don't receive their court notices鈥� and it becomes like a revolving door,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淭hey miss court, they get a warrant, they're picked up by APD, they're put in jail, they're released.鈥�

Josh Boone, deputy district attorney, said the hope is that people will be more willing to receive treatment because they are not being forced to seek it out, but presented with an opportunity right outside the courtroom.

鈥淭he idea now is we're all coming to the table,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he city has asked us, 鈥楬ey, will you help us out?鈥� because they understand we've been involved in this side of it more than they have. So we're trying to help them, we don't want them to fail.鈥�

Boone said the program could have other benefits as well, like lessening caseloads for Metro Court judges, reducing failure to appear rates and the need for an officer to arrest someone for a missed hearing.

Torres said the collaboration came with an understanding that warrants will not automatically be issued if the person misses the first, or second, hearing. Torres said over the past few years the cases and arrests associated with city code violations have gone 鈥渢hrough the roof.鈥�

鈥淚t really makes a difference when the criminal justice partners come together and decide to work on a solution for a reoccurring problem that's just not going to go away, to really tackle the issue and not necessarily criminalize poverty, because that's kind of what we were doing for so long,鈥� she said.

Torres said the hearings will be held Fridays on the second floor of Metro Court, with the first scheduled for 8 a.m. to noon July 17. LOPD will have staff on site to check people in, make sure they're qualified, and guide them through the process 鈥� city service providers will set up right outside the courtroom.

鈥淚 think that it will be very successful, and I'm hoping we can do things like this more in the future,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淢y preference would be if they were to just divert them without citing them altogether, but that's not how this program works.鈥�

When asked if the city will stop the enforcement that has led to the unhoused being repeatedly jailed, newly appointed Public Safety Executive Director Raul Bujanda said the diversion program 鈥渋s something we want to try that鈥檚 different.鈥�

鈥淏ecause if we keep doing everything that we've been doing in the past, then nothing's going to change,鈥� he said. 

But, Bujanda clarified, enforcement of city code violations will continue.