The Battle Over Benches

Like most cities, San Diego is tired of having people who are homeless dominate their public benches. Some cities are removing benches (San Francisco.) Other cities are passing laws to say it is illegal to beg while sitting on benches (Santa Monica.)

What is San Diego doing? They are recruiting bench-warmers—people who will sit on the bench for three-hour shifts so that homeless people won’t. Activists are sending out emails to any volunteers… "After all, you MUST OCCUPY THAT BENCH continually for three hours to prevent that homeless person from sitting on that bench," the e-mail said.

Communities will do anything to stop homelessness—except build enough permanent affordable housing.

There are 4,400 people who are homeless in San Diego.