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| A member of the San Diego Police homeless outreach team speaks to a homeless resident staying in the Midway District on Sept. 28, 2021. / Photo by Adriana Heldiz |
Two San Diego City Councilmembers want to create a unit in the City Attorney’s Office focused on placing homeless residents who are unable to care for themselves in treatment and housing.
City Councilmembers Jennifer Campbell and Marni von Wilpert on Tuesday announced they want to allocate $500,000 for City Attorney Mara Elliott’s office to fund a treatment coordinator to assess individuals’ needs and two deputy city attorneys to coordinate with county officials who oversee conservatorships, make referrals and file petitions in court.
The councilmembers’ budget proposal coincides with a wave of statewide discussion about behavioral health reforms including a controversial pitch by Gov. Gavin Newsom aiming to make it easier to order people with serious mental illnesses to seek treatment. It also coincides with increased activity already playing out on Elliott’s watch.
The San Diego County’s Public Conservator’s Office has long led the charge when it comes to recommending conservatorships and overseeing treatment and other decisions for people considered to be a danger to themselves or others, or to be deemed “gravely disabled.”
But since 2020, Elliott’s office has said city attorneys have formally made roughly a dozen referrals to the county to urge officials to pursue probate conservatorships for people the city decided couldn’t care for themselves. And von Wilpert said Tuesday that Elliott’s office is now reviewing about 20 additional cases.
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You do not have to live in anxiety and fear of how they might damage themselves or someone else with an emergency conservatorship in place. It is one of many conservatorship options, and we want to walk you through what these are so you understand what your loved one needs.
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