This sort of conflict continues to arise, where people are living in below-code situations and shut down - to go live in below-code situations in other venues, presumably.
This time somebody went to jail for arranging the housing, though.
San Luis Obispo rancher who housed homeless is sentenced to jail for safety code violations
A San Luis Obispo rancher who for years has illegally housed homeless people was ordered today to serve 90 days in jail.
A defiant Dan de Vaul stretched out his arms and let deputies place handcuffs on him before being led out of the San Luis Obispo courtroom. The 66-year-old defendant was offered probation after a jury convicted him in September of two misdemeanor violations of building and safety codes at his Sunny Acres ranch.
But De Vaul refused the terms of his probation because he said it would mean he could no longer provide shelter for about 30 people who reside in his sober-living facility. For eight years, he’s operated the program on his 72-acre ranch, housing clients in mobile homes, tents, garden sheds and an aging Victorian home.
The article says that SLO "officials" have offered to "help" the gentleman in question bring his property up to code, but he declined all offers of help.
Here's the SLO Trib article.
90 days for code violations (including storage of vehicles). Wonder how many people around there engage in code violations and don't house the homeless (or go to jail)?
I don't mean to underestimate the potential for barn fires, but sending this guy to jail seems pretty radical.
Though not as radical as perhaps offering these people he's helping, something better than living in a barn?
If you send a guy to jail for housing the homeless in substandard conditions, and don't take responsibility for their plight yourself, who's the bad guy?
Also, I'd love to know more about the "help" the "officials" offered. I'm sure they were officials, and I'm sure it was help. It would be interesting to know the conditions of accepting the help, though.
Seems like it's so often that way when you're dealing with being homeless...all these conditions. Somehow I suspect they didn't just offer him a $25,000 grant to fix the place up, ya know?