Budget cuts are threatening vital county services — including an outreach program that brought legal aid to people living in homeless encampments.
The Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office started going out to encampments during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 when courts closed. What began as efforts to give relief such as warm clothes, tarps, naloxone and information on COVID evolved into providing legal services and clearing criminal records. Advocates and participants said the program made a difference. Now due to nearly $7 million in cuts to the office, these outreach programs are ending, along with pre-arraignment services that helped reduce an individual’s pretrial jail time.
“We realized there was a big need there,” Deputy Public Defender Jake Rhodes told San José Spotlight. “Once we started doing that, we started seeing significant outcomes. I can say it definitely changes peoples’ lives.”
People with records are often hesitant to engage with the criminal justice system, Rhodes said. Some don’t have access to transportation or don’t want to leave encampments for fear of having their belongings stolen. By going into encampments, schools, resource fairs and the veterans’ services office, attorneys brought aid directly to marginalized populations who normally wouldn’t know about these resources.
To clear peoples’ records, public defenders first ask residents to sign a consent form to release their records. Attorneys review their criminal histories and fines, then submit petitions to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for expungement consideration. If approved, a judge then reviews the cases. Once a judge signs off, the record is cleared.
Minor convictions can often hold people back from obtaining jobs or housing, keeping them in a cycle of homelessness.
“It is really frustrating to see the cuts from positions that really are about prevention and early intervention,” District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg told San José Spotlight. “I also empathize with the public defender who is working to manage a reduced budget in a time where the county is still likely to face a structural deficit. My hope is that they can be restored as soon as we have a better handle on where this budget is going.”
Outreach services such as these are vital for people like Martin, who only provided his first name due to privacy concerns. He had a domestic violence charge on his record for more than three decades, which stopped immigration lawyers from helping him obtain a green card. Martin met Rhodes at a Downtown Streets Team meeting, and got a chance to turn his life around. The public defender’s office is working to clear his record, which will enable him to start his citizenship process, he said.
“I’m not a violent man,” Martin told San José Spotlight through a translator. “I made a mistake in the 90s.”
Having a domestic violence charge can make a person vulnerable to deportation. Martin said with President Donald Trump’s administration, things will only get worse. He is the sole income provider for his wife and children, and being deported would leave his family homeless.
“If it wasn’t for the programs with the DA, we wouldn’t be able to (have this),” Martin said.
Jose Villarreal, Downtown Streets Team program manager, said it’s a shame the program is ending.
“Those resource fairs that they do are so invaluable to the community,” Villarreal told San José Spotlight. “(Rhodes) not being able to do this type of work is going to affect so many folks that are underrepresented.”
Aiko Yep, director of programs for nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless or PATH, told San José Spotlight about 70% of people engaging with their employment services have charges that could impact their ability to obtain work. Once those records are expunged, their lives are able to change, she said.
Rhodes attends the Downtown Streets Team meetings once a month to provide education and legal aid. Come June, that service will end.
“I’m somewhat disappointed that there’s not more recognition of a need for services in this area, because it’s a pretty scary time for a lot of our clients, and especially our noncitizen clients,” Rhodes said.
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
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