Council members Dr. Jennifer Campbell and Marni von Wilpert on May 3 announced that their FY23 budget priorities include allocating $500,000 to fund new homelessness focused Conservatorship and Treatment Unit that will help find housing and treatment programs for unsheltered individuals who are unable to care for their own needs, and who have no family or friends to look out for them.
The funds will be used to prioritize treatment and housing placements for those individuals experiencing homelessness whose severe struggles with mental illness lead to the most frequent calls on City emergency services, including paramedics and the police department. The effort will also help to provide for basic daily needs such as medical care, food, clothing, and shelter.
“We have a moral and medical obligation to intervene to help the sickest, most vulnerable San Diegans living on the street – and we must do so urgently,” Campbell said. “Conservatorships are really a missing piece in San Diego’s homelessness response and our proposal will bring help and hope to San Diegans with the hardest-to-treat mental health challenges.”
The new conservatorship and treatment unit will consist of three new positions that expand the capacity of the Lifesaving Intervention for Treatment (LIFT) Program under City Attorney Mara W. Elliott. A newly hired person-centered treatment coordinator will assess the individuals’ histories and refer them to assisted outpatient treatment, the serial inebriate program, or other pathways to treatment, including court appointment of the county public guardian as their conservator. Two deputy city attorneys will coordinate with the offices of the public guardian and public conservator, make referrals, and file conservatorship petitions with the court.
Conservatorships are a compassionate way to meet the health, safety, and psychological needs of individuals who cannot care for themselves and have no one else to look out for them. Many rely on emergency medical services to survive and many are gravely mentally ill. Some are developmentally disabled adults whose needs are greater than their families can provide. Many are elderly. All are unable to provide for their own health care, nutrition, clothing, and shelter.
“Together with the City Attorney’s Office, we’re acting now to prevent San Diego’s most vulnerable residents from cycling through our emergency rooms and get them the help they need,” Councilmember von Wilpert said. “While ensuring due process rights for all residents, conservatorships are a humanitarian tool to help those who cannot help themselves, many of whom are living on our streets.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers are working to expand the state’s conservatorship laws to include more homeless individuals with severe mental illness. Discussions are centered around creating mental health ‘Care Courts’ in every California county to allow for treatment for more homeless individuals with severe mental health and addiction disorders and potentially compelling some of them into care.
Campbell and von Wilpert say their proposal would be effective under existing state conservatorship laws, while also preparing the City of San Diego to step up its efforts to spur court-ordered mental health treatment if Newsom’s Care Court proposal is adopted.
Since 2020, the City Attorney’s Office has used existing law to bring the most tragic cases to the attention of the public guardian and has itself petitioned the court in particularly urgent instances. The medical and emergency-services communities have seen referrals to the City Attorney’s office skyrocket, because of compassionate conservatorships.
