Homelessness

8/2/2023
Operation Hope North County
revitalized with renovation and art
KPBS



8/31/2023
Escondido Pulls Funding from the Only Homeless Shelter in the City
VOICE of SAN DIEGO

8/31/2023
Does Escondido believe that neighboring areas are free-riding on its shelter? Are neighboring cities now completely funding the Interfaith shelter in Escondido? Are there only four homeless shelters in North County? Is Escondido concerned that this shelter doesn’t require sobriety or background checks? Does Escondido want to instead spend their dollars expanding their homeless outreach in Escondido?



1/19/2023
Vista approves contract
for homeless Safe Parking Program

“Vista received a $65,000 grant from the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, Department of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities for capital improvements related to the Safe Parking Program.”

Steve Puterski

The Coast News

Related news: homeless services
Operation Hope



7/23/2023
Foster, homeless youths have a safe place in Vista
The San Diego Union-Tribune



4/18/2023
No vacancy
Homeless people turned away
from San Diego shelters every day

Shelters usually operate at more than 90 percent capacity. I tell them, ‘I’m sorry, there’s no more beds.’

Interfaith Community Services CEO Greg Anglea said fewer than 150 shelter beds are available in North County, which has about 2,000 homeless people. Interfaith operates the 49-bed Haven House shelter at its Escondido headquarters.”

Gary Warth

The San Diego Union-Tribune



…”after housing over 50 homeless veterans
and seeing literally ALL of them
back on the street with their continued addiction
after our 9 months of rental assistance was finished
I realized this was a toxic cycle.”

Tyler Alvarez

Related at Social Studies



Shelter First

“In a randomized controlled trial, homeless people were given furnished apartments and allowed to keep them unless they failed a drug test, at which point they were sent to stay in a shelter. Sixty-five percent of participants completed the program.

Instead of attempting to guarantee Californians a right to housing, which will likely never be realized, Californians should instead be guaranteed a right to shelter. New York City, a city with over 77,000 homeless people, has sheltered 95 percent of its homeless population. It does not suffer from the same problems of open air drug scenes and homeless encampments.”

California Peace Coalition



Vista meeting hall brings
dozens of recovery programs under one roof

“The Steps Meeting Hall opened seven years ago to provide a home for dozens of 12-Step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous. Now the hall is home to nearly 50 programs serving about 1,000 people in recovery programs each week.

Next door is the Serenity STEPS Shop, 1717 E. Vista Way-Suite 115, which helps support the hall through the sales of recovery related coins, spiritual items and other merchandise.”

VISTA IS OPEN!



5/9/2023
California to Observe
Fentanyl Awareness Day
to Combat Opioid Crisis

“Fentanyl kills more Americans under 50 than any other cause of death, including heart disease, cancer, homicide, suicide, and other accidents. Last year 6,843 people died in California from opioid overdose, 5,722 of these deaths were related to Fentanyl.”

Debbie L. Sklar

TIMES of SAN DIEGO

Related at North County Daily Star



7/12/2023
San Diego County’s radical leadership styles continue even without Nathan Fletcher

“When you look at what harm reduction actually is, this is NOT it. This is simply a delivery service for needles and crack pipes.”

Dane White
Mayor of Escondido

KUSI

7/21/2023
Are some non-profits farming homeless addicts?

Was a “harm reduction” plan implemented in San Francisco? How is San Francisco doing these days?

Supervisor Desmond and most Mayors in North County oppose this plan.

What can citizens do to derail this plan? Dane White, Mayor of Escondido, recommends writing members of the County Board of Supervisors. There’s also an online petition at the website of San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond.



9/22/2022
No, Lockdown Instigators
Do Not Deserve
the Benefit of the Doubt


The damage that lockdowns would cause was far too well known, far too uneven, and far too catastrophic to assume their chief instigators must have had good intentions.

“…the lockdowns caused the public to believe that the virus was hundreds of times deadlier than it really was

Simultaneously, the World Health Organization issued global PCR testing guidance—using tests later confirmed by the New York Times to have a false positive rate over 85%—pursuant to which millions of cases were soon discovered in every country.

Additionally, the WHO issued new guidance on the use of mechanical ventilators to member nations; over 97% of those over age 65 who received mechanical ventilation in accordance with this guidance were killed.”

Michael Senger

The New Normal



5/11/2023
Chula Vista opens first bridge shelter
to combat homeless crisis

“The shelter is equipped with over 60 tiny-homes which house two individuals each. The houses are pet-friendly, customizable, and temperature regulated. To qualify for a three month stay, individuals must be sober.”

KUSI News

6/13//2023
Did HUD, the State of California, and the County of SD help to fund this project?



5/12/2023
Migrant detentions at US-Mexico border hit record highs
as Title 42 ends

“U.S. border cities have struggled to shelter the new arrivals and provide transportation to other destinations. Far from the border, other cities say they are also struggling to cope, such as New York, where Mayor Eric Adams temporarily loosened right-to-shelter rules because of strained resources.”

Liliana Salgado and Ted Hesson
Reuters

Related:
Migrants to be housed in 6 more NYC school gyms
outraged parents say plan is ‘just insane’

5/20/2023
There’s a lot of empty office space in New York City. A lot of mom-and-pop businesses closed down permanently during the lockdowns and masking. Could they use some of that empty office space to shelter the homeless?

Are border policies part of the plan? Is California being infused with cheap abundant labor prior to an upcoming presidential election that may be featuring Newsom? If that is the plan, will it backfire? The buzz is that plenty of our new arrivals are heading to red states because it’s cheaper to live there. Is the plan to send a million or two in a flood so social services there just can’t cope? Is this a political game to them?



5/18/2023
A look at the city’s ‘right-to-shelter’ law amid influx of migrants

“On Wednesday, city officials say that more than 67,000 migrants have arrived with more than 47,000 still in the city’s care.” — Kelly Mena – New York City

“Administration officials have attempted to use school gyms, a former police academy and tents to house migrants and now are even considering a complex on Rikers Island.”

Beth Haroules, staff attorney
New York Civil Liberties Union

Spectrum News

Related:
NYC Is Housing More Illegal Migrants
Than Homeless People

Statue Of Liberty Now Holding Sign Pointing To New Jersey



6/9/2023
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells
reacts to Todd Gloria’s “call to action”

“We have 110 people that are sheltered
per 10,000 residents. Whereas,
San Diego has 23 per 10,000 residents…

We’re staying away from the Housing First model.

Our primary thing is the East County Transitional Living Center which requires that you’re clean and sober to be in the program. But, it’s a tremendously successfuly program. To do this, we have to mostly do non-governmental funding.

We have to raise money within the population. The business community steps up to raise money… There’s a lot of different fund raisers for that.”

Bill Wells
Mayor of El Cajon

KUSI News

6/13/2023
El Cajon is sheltering one out of every hundred residents? That’s a major commitment to this. The report still shows ~200 unsheltered there. Maybe those are the addicted homeless? It will be interesting to see what plans El Cajon comes up with next. They’re definitely giving this some serious attention. Since El Cajon uses their own funding, they get to choose their own homelessness solutions.



6/27/2023
Mayor Todd Gloria’s homeless shelter strategy
is mostly unfunded.
Here’s what it could cost

“Ultimately, the city will count on donations from private, corporate and philanthropic groups.”

Sarah Jarman
top City of San Diego official
dedicated to homelessness solutions

inewsource

Related:
Homelessness and Immigration local news reporting at inewsource