Editorial: San Rafael City Hall encampment could not be allowed to continue

For years, San Rafael city officials have been trying to resolve the community’s problem with homelessness.

One highly visible example has been the homeless campers outside of City Hall.

A city strategy of patience and compassion hasn’t helped lead them to better housing. In fact, the number of tents has grown in recent weeks, leading city officials to ban camping from the City Hall area on Fifth Avenue.

Citing health and safety concerns, the city is telling the campers to move on.

Officials say the campers have brought litter and rotten food that have attracted rats and other pests to the area. Officials also report evidence of urine.

The campers, essentially, have forced the city to take action.

This action is not about the visibility of a hard-to-solve societal problem, but about public health and safety, two of the primary purposes that municipalities are supposed to fulfill for its residents and businesses. Even for people who are homeless.

City Hall is a public space and people, the public and workers, shouldn’t have worries about their health and safety when they go there. The city-cited conditions aren’t healthful and safe for the campers, either.

The city has reported that the police department last month received 30 calls about disruptions among the campers.

The campers are also in the way of routine maintenance of the building and grounds.

Besides the fact that City Hall is not equipped to be a campsite, the dilemma comes down to campers failing to be respectful of the setting.

They are trashing public property.

Should that be allowed given their precarious housing?

The city has finally come up with the answer – no.

Officials say they have been trying to work with the campers individually to connect them with appropriate services and possible, albeit limited, housing opportunities.

Most of the campers are new to San Rafael, the city says.

That means they put up their tents at City Hall after being displaced from another town.

The city has established a tent encampment along Mahon Creek. It has been able to help move many of those people into more permanent affordable housing. It has supported the expansion of the Mill Street emergency homeless shelter. It built apartments for the homeless on Kerner Boulevard and it is moving forward with a temporary tent compound on Merrydale Road, a site where it plans to build another affordable apartment complex to provide housing for those who would otherwise be homeless.

Still, there are encampments around town. In some cases, those living in those tents or tarp-covered lean-tos don’t want to abide by the rules of conduct and public health standards the city is requiring.

There are also some who, due to mental-health and severe substance-abuse problems, have trouble following such rules.

For several years, a federal court edict severely limited the city’s ability to control homeless encampments. That law was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024 ordered the removal of encampments from state property and urged municipalities to do the same. The state is now tying its financial support for local homeless programs to municipalities’ efforts to regulate encampments and provide housing.

The City Hall tents, most of them pitched after the governor’s 2024 order, are an example of a case where it is easier to issue an edict in Sacramento, than carry it out at the local level.

The RV encampment that has lined Novato’s Binford Road is another example.

At San Rafael City Hall, the dilemma has come down to public health and safety, beyond the precarious situation of people living in flimsy tents.

Yes, likely the city’s ban will result in those campers moving to other locations where they will set up their tents until they are forced to move again.

But having a campsite in front of City Hall is not the answer to their problem. The litter, rodents and numerous police calls are clear signs that they don’t belong there.

It’s not the right use of the public’s property – for those campers – and it is not right for those who work at City Hall or those who have to go there.