(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) \u2014 This week on Inside California Politics, host Nikki Laurenzo is on the road to speak with San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Matt Mahan about his city\u2019s approach to homelessness and what he\u2019s looking for from current and future state leaders.<\/p>\n
Mahan, former Bay Area tech executive, cited quicker, temporary housing solutions as key to his strategy to lowering the number of unsheltered homeless people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what\u2019s work is we\u2019ve combined a compassionate approach with accountability and our solutions are cost effective,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cWe\u2019re building modular units, we\u2019re converting hotels, safe parking, safe sleeping, we are creating safe dignified private alternatives to the streets and when they\u2019re available we\u2019re creating strong incentive for people to accept that shelter, come indoors and get connected to services.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last few years we\u2019ve created over 20 sites that are interim. These are cost effective. We can build these units or buy them on the order of $100,000 a unit, not wait 6 years to build a new apartment building that costs $1 million a door.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said Prop. 36 offers the chance at a middle path between mass incarceration for drug use \u00a0and allowing the open use of drugs in public.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to implement it. We need beds. I\u2019ve talked to our DA, our judges,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cThe biggest barrier\u2014 part of its philosophic \u2014 but the biggest is we don\u2019t have enough appropriate treatment placements and we have known this for years and Prop. 36 should be the forcing function to say we have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need appropriate places for people to go to get treatment,\u00a0And if their addiction is so severe that they are harming the broader community, repeatedly committing crimes, making parks unusable for children because of public drug use or they\u2019re stealing from small businesses and pushing them to the brink and driving up costs for everyone, they ought to be mandated to get treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahan said that state leaders in Sacramento are not supporting the proposition, which voters passed 68.4% to 31.6% in 2024, strongly enough and suggested that voters may need take further initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t realize \u2014 and I think they\u2019re starting to see on the street \u2014 that it\u2019s not being implemented,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cBut when they find out, if we have to, I think we should go back to the ballot and force implementation. I think the voters knew what they wanted and expected their leaders to follow through. And there\u2019s a huge gap right now between our elected leaders and where the people are at on this and a number of other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to the group of candidates running to be the state\u2019s next governor Mahan has so far declined to make a public endorsement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for that convincing message\u2026\u201d Mahan said.\u00a0\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter to me what the endorsements are or the kind of the brand around it. I want to hear specifically on those issues what will you do differently because we have not been getting the partnership we need from Sacramento in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahan did not rule out running for the state\u2019s chief executive position himself but said it would be a \u201clast resort.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not ruled it out. I ran for this job to run San Jose and deliver those great outcomes for our residents. My wife and I are raising two little kids here. We\u2019re very rooted here. I want San Jose to be as successful as it can be,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cI would say at least in this cycle, jumping into this race would be a last resort if I don\u2019t hear from anybody that they\u2019ve got a clear and compelling vision for change and that they\u2019re going to partner with us at the local level to deliver those outcomes we\u2019ve been talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
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