Both Hutt and Yoo support Municipal Code 41.18, a city law that bars homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and day-care centers.
But Hutt views the law as a way to deter people, rather than a tool to make arrests. She said she’s seen homeless people move into shelters after they’re informed about the law.
“I don’t believe in criminalizing our homeless,” said Hutt, adding that the city needs “tools in our tool belt.”
Hutt called Yoo a “law-and-order person that believes in arresting everyone, and I don’t believe in that.”
Yoo disagreed with that characterization, calling herself a “humanitarian” who supported construction of an affordable housing project directly next to her home.
“It is not humanitarian of us to allow people to stay on the street,” she said.
Yoo wants the city to stop homeless people from blocking sidewalks.
“If you’re a homeowner or an apartment dweller, you are not allowed to hoard, causing hazards to your neighbors,” said Yoo. “People in the streets also should not be allowed to hoard.”
Hutt supports Inside Safe, Bass’ program to move people into hotel and motel rooms, and wants to secure more rooms for the initiative.
Yoo is critical of the cost of affordable housing units under Proposition HHH, the $1.2-billion bond measure approved by voters in 2016. She wants to convert commercial buildings into housing and use prefabricated materials to build affordable units.
Both Hutt and Yoo support Measure A, a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot to fund homelessness programs, including mental health care, affordable housing, rental subsidies and services.
Measure A would repeal the quarter-cent sales tax voters approved in 2017, two years ahead of its mandatory expiration in 2027, and would stay in effect indefinitely.
