Agenda Item # 10.1 - Maria Aguilar | Received 05/16/2023CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening
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From:City Clerk
To:Christina Ruiz
Subject:FW: EXTERNAL - Unhoused banning rules
Date:Monday, May 15, 2023 5:58:03 PM
Public Comment. Please process.
From: Maria Aguilar
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2023 12:01 PM
To: All Council Members <AllCouncilMembers@ci.gilroy.ca.us>
Cc: City Clerk <CityClerk@cityofgilroy.org>
Subject: EXTERNAL - Unhoused banning rules
I've reviewed the potential banning, prohibitive rules on our most vulnerable members of our
community. The extensive criminalization, violation of unhoused people's constitutional rights.
Instead of bringing those affected into the fold together with our local non-profits and trying to
come up with proposals that will provide a humane approach.
This is a cruel and shortsighted way of addressing this issue. One such example is the banning of
unhoused near schools, stigmatizes that unhoused can't be trusted around children without
recognizing that some unhoused are parents whose children attend our schools.
These potential rules/fines do not address the needs of anyone in our community housed or
unhoused. City Council has ignored request to find a safe park/lot where these folks can be afforded
as best we can some sort of shelter a place where services can be provided where they can store
their few possessions. Documents needed to establish a potential move into housing, apply for SS,
SSI, veterans benefits medicaid, etc.
By banning and not having places for these unfortunate folks they will have to move throughout the
city from one neighborhood to another, you are failing to institute a sustainable solution.
Our city does not have the resources to respond to every encampment 24 hours a day, or the
resources to fine or secure payments of fines and our unhoused do not have the funds to pay!
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