Two San Diego nonprofits have agreed to give the city access to dozens of beds for homeless residents as the region prepares for the coming closure of multiple large facilities within an already strained shelter system.
Veterans Village of San Diego plans to add more than 160 spots to its Mission Hills campus while the Rescue Mission, which has long spurned governed funding, will provide 30-plus beds at its new National City shelter.
Officials are also negotiating with a to-be-identified motel that could potentially hold an additional 105.
Weve been working with the Housing Commission and our nonprofit partners here today to ensure that no one currently living in one of our city shelters returns to the street, Mayor Todd Gloria said Monday during a news conference at Veterans Village. We are accomplishing that goal.
The announcement comes one week before Election Day when voters will choose between Gloria and police Officer Larry Turner in a mayoral campaign that has partially turned into a referendum on the citys response to homelessness.
The crisis in San Diego County has grown every month for 2 1/2 straight years and there are nowhere near enough beds for everybody asking for help, even though leaders have increased capacity. The citys main shelter system, which is overseen by the San Diego Housing Commission, recently reported that only about 1 out of every 10 requests are successful, mainly because facilities are full.
Cold weather is expected to further increase demand.
To make matters more complicated, the Golden Hall shelter in the Civic Center is almost at the end of its permit and Father Joes Villages is shuttering the Paul Mirabile Center downtown to convert it into a detox and sober-living space. All together, the city is expected to lose access to more than 600 beds by the end of the year.
The plan announced Monday should almost make up that difference.
By the numbers
At Veterans Village, 35 beds will be for people who served in the military. An additional 130 can be filled by any single adults, especially those who are at least 55 years old. The latter category of beds will be managed by Father Joes, which is essentially moving part of its Golden Hall program to a campus that offers more private spaces. One studio toured by The San Diego Union-Tribune featured two bunk beds next to a bathroom.
Some homeless residents, citing concerns about privacy and safety, shun shelters that squeeze rows of bunk beds into warehouse-like rooms.
The options that we are putting forward today mark an important step forward in us leaning even more into hearing from those folks, said City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera.
Farther south, the Rescue Missions South County Lighthouse opened over the summer with space for 162 beds, many of which are in a converted gym. But the process of launching a new shelter can be slow — budgets must increase, staff have to be hired and trained — and the buildings capacity has recently hovered around 125, according to President and CEO Donnie Dee.
Signing a 37-bed contract with the Housing Commission will close the gap. Dee noted that the spots could largely be for homeless people in southern parts of San Diego, like San Ysidro.
The Rescue Mission has long relied solely on private donations, and Dee previously said that allowed him and his colleagues to criticize elected leaders without fearing the loss of a contract. On Monday, Dee said the new agreement would not change his willingness to critique local officials.
San Diegos Alcohol Use Disorder Shelter will add 56 beds.
At least some of the new spots should be available by Dec. 1. (Its unclear when the motel might open.) Combined with the hundreds of tents being added to the citys two designated camping areas by Balboa Park, the total comes to nearly 600.
If there are still people in soon-to-close shelters without places to go, officials are also changing how they use one specific pot of money.
Diversion funds are for residents who just became homeless and offer one-off, no-strings-attached payments that can cover expenses like apartment deposits or car repairs. The Housing Commission has $500,000 for that purpose while the Regional Task Force on Homelessnesss diversion budget is more than $1 million. Recipients are sometimes on the verge of eviction or people who recently moved into their cars.
Starting in November, officials will redirect what diversion money remains toward people who are already in shelters.
The mayoral election
Some of Turners homelessness plan is similar to Glorias, including a call for preserving existing beds and finding sites that can serve as future shelters.
One difference is a proposal to essentially create a Homelessness Czar who would have more direct control over the existing service system than many current leaders. Turner wants to absorb the citys Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department into a new agency hes calling the Regional Unified Command on San Diego Homelessness, or RUSH.
RUSH would be led by a city employee with operational expertise and report directly to the mayor, he wrote in an email. Other cities and the county could join as well.
It is important that the City of San Diego operate in an open environment so that other regional governments impacted by the City’s activities both have insight to and an opportunity to provide feedback, Turner said. Ultimately, our homeless neighbors cannot continue living on the street, but they also have a right to services.
RUSH will provide the strategic framework to make this vision a reality, he added.