Controversial plan to end homelessness in San Rafael
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (KTVU) - He's a man who last year was San Rafael's citizen of the year. He's also a man some homeless advocates say has little compassion.
Hugo Landecker is on a mission to end homelessness in San Rafael, by trying to force the closure of the homeless program that serves 3,700 Marin County families, the Ritter Center.
"It's awful," is how Landecker describes San Rafael's homeless problem.
"They don't want to be housed. They want to live on the streets and cause trouble in the community. They don't care about themselves. They don't care about anything," he told KTVU.
Landecker says he's tired of seeing people sleeping or passed out - tired of the litter and human waste. "We have people who will not go downtown because of what they see and experience."
He says by moving homeless services out of town - the homeless would also leave.
Ben Leroi is the Ritter Center's deputy director. "It really saddens us, it disappoints us," he told KTVU
Lerois said the Ritter Center has been battling Landecker over its lease.
Landecker is trying to convince the Ritter Center's landlord not to renew the lease on two of its properties when they expire in December.
"We're very familiar with Mr. Landecker. He's been kind of causing this type of uproar for the last few years."
The center says it provides everything from food and clothing to hot showers and mental health and substance abuse counseling.
Ritter Center director Cia Byrnes suggested Landecker's passion is misdirected.
"The depth of his protection for his town from my perspective has really eliminated his sense of compassion," she told KTVU.
"The depth of his protection for his town from my perspective has really eliminated his sense of compassion," she told KTVU.
Albert Ellis has been homeless for eight years and says he's familiar with Landecker's quest.
"It's not so much what I think of him it's what he doesn't understand. There's human needs and the biggest one is sleep and it's the first thing people who are homeless are deprived of."
Landecker has started an email campaign to address homelessness... and says he now has more than 400 members.
He's also proposing a massive homeless assistance center in Sonoma County at the former state hospital, and sending San Rafael's homeless there.
"So here's 2 1/2 square miles of land. This would make a fantastic homeless encampment," he told KTVU.
"I am about solutions. I see the problem. It's getting worse."
The Ritter Center says it is looking for a new home, but only because it wants a site that better suits its needs.
But in pricey Marin County that is proving difficult.
If the center can't find a new property, Ritter staff says it's confident its lease at its current locations will be renewed.
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