Baby Lady, as she’s known on the street in San Jose, has been homeless for nearly eight years. She has little desire to move indoors.
The 39-year-old with darting blue eyes has PTSD and severe anxiety dating back to childhood, making it almost impossible for her to stay in close quarters with others at homeless shelters, she said. After so long without a roof over her head, she’s grown accustomed to life in encampments.
“I have a phobia of windows, doors and walls,” she said. “And I can be violent and confrontational.”
While experts agree that people like Baby Lady make up a minority of the unhoused population, Bay Area officials say “shelter-resistant” homeless residents are the most entrenched in dangerous encampments, use the most emergency services and are among those most likely to die of an overdose on the streets.
In response, frustrated local cities are increasingly seeking ways to compel homeless people to accept a shelter bed, or are clearing more encampments without offering shelter at all. Many adopted the more forceful approaches following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer allowing local governments to close camps regardless of whether shelter beds are available.
RVs are parked near a homeless shelter on Cimino Street in San Jose on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)In San Mateo County, officials last year made it illegal for homeless people in unincorporated areas to repeatedly refuse shelter. Months later, Berkeley updated its encampment policy to allow authorities to sweep camps without offering a bed.
Fremont adopted a strict encampment ban in February. Oakland has recently ramped up sweeps, with plans to clear one of its largest encampments this week. San Francisco — where officials submitted their frustrations over shelter refusals to the Supreme Court — has begun citing and arresting more people for public camping.
In San Jose, officials are now considering a controversial proposal by Mayor Matt Mahan to cite and arrest homeless residents who turn down multiple shelter offers.
Mahan said he has no intention of jailing unhoused people under the policy. Instead, he said the goal is to work with Santa Clara County to refer those refusing shelter to addiction or mental health treatment, though county officials have dismissed the proposal as “ineffective and a distraction.”
“We believe holding people accountable for coming indoors to housing or treatment will save lives and benefit the broader community,” he said.
The shelter beds at The Hope Center adjacent to the Berkeley Food & Housing Project in Berkeley, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. The Hope Center is a newly built facility that has fifty-three rooms of permanent supportive housing for homeless and disabled men and women. Thirty-two shelter beds for homeless adult men and twelve transitional housing beds for homeless male veterans. Residents can receive onsite support like medical services and meal programs. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)Along with county officials, experts and service providers are skeptical that threatening homeless people with criminal penalties will persuade them to move off the street. They also note that even as cities like San Jose work to add shelter space, most lack anywhere near enough beds for everyone who needs them. And they argue that opting to clear camps without offering shelter often accomplishes little except pushing homeless people from one neighborhood to another.
Labeling homeless people as shelter-resistant also ignores the reality that shelters aren’t always well-managed or maintained, researchers say. Facilities may not be equipped to accommodate physical or behavioral health issues, or the residents’ histories of trauma, which can make it hard to feel safe in a group setting and foster a distrust of those offering help.
“There is still a mismatch between the way that shelter is designed and the needs of this very diverse and vulnerable population of people,” said Jamie Chang, a homelessness researcher with UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare.
A Yale-led review last year of various surveys of homeless people identified eight main barriers to accepting shelter: Safety concerns, on-site drug use, strict rules or curfews, perceived inadequate care, unsanitary conditions, mandatory treatment requirements, a lack of accommodations for family members or pets, and limited accessibility for those with disabilities.
Most homeless people who’ve spent any significant amount on the street in the Bay Area have bounced in and out of shelters or temporary housing at some point in their lives. They’ve often been discharged from a shelter program over conflicts with other shelter residents or staff, and sometimes harbor deep suspicions about outreach teams and service providers.
But for many, turning down a shelter offer doesn’t mean they have no intention of ever accepting a bed.
Mike Roman, a 71-year-old homeless man with a thick white beard and weathered complexion, said he declined to move to a shelter in Morgan Hill because it’s too far from where he lived in Palo Alto before losing his housing. He wants to find a bed closer to that city. But until then, he plans to stay on the street in San Jose.
“This is where my friends are,” Roman said. “It’s what I know right now.”
Unhoused residents Mike Roman, 71, center, and Jose Cadenas, 41, talk during an interview in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)A homeless man who goes by the name Draco and lives at a West Berkeley encampment with his two pit bulls, Luna and Tanner, said he desperately wants to find a permanent home. He ended up at the longstanding camp at 8th and Harrison streets — about wihch city officials have repeatedly complained that homeless residents turn down beds — after temporary stays at shelters and supportive housing in the area.
One of the main challenges to securing a lasting home, Draco said, is finding a program that will accept more than one pet.
“If you want me off the streets, you’re going to take my dogs — my kids,” he said. “Because those are the only reasons I get up every day. Period.”
A homeless man known as Draco hugs his dogs Tanner and Luna, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, near his tent at the Eighth and Harrison streets homeless encampment in Berkeley, Calif. Trouble finding shelter that allows pets has kept him on the street for years. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)To make shelters more accommodating, Bay Area cities in recent years have begun opening a new type of facility known as interim housing. Unlike traditional dorm-style group shelters with strict rules and little privacy, interim sites offer residents individual rooms to provide a more stable and welcoming environment for those receiving case management and other services.
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In San Jose, officials aim to add around 1,000 interim housing placements by the end of this year. To pay for the sites, Mahan wants to use money that had been set aside for affordable housing, a contentious strategy among housing and homelessness advocates who contend that shifting funding away from permanent solutions is a short-sighted strategy.
Jose Cadenas said he’s been on the wait list for a group shelter in San Jose for the past three weeks. He stays in a tent just across from the site. And while he’s not uncomfortable remaining outdoors, especially now that warmer weather has arrived, he’s eager to move into the shelter and have access to a bed and shower.
“I would go there right away,” he said.
Unhoused resident Jose Cadenas, 41, talks during an interview in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) Read More Details
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