As it was emphasized Thursday night at the Land Use and Housing committee meeting, the first order of business is getting encampments off public property.
Should the prohibiting tented sidewalks ordinance pass, where will the homeless go?
On any given day the corner of Newton Ave and South 16th Street is crammed with campers. Members of the homeless community either can’t or won’t go inside the nearby Alpha Project shelter.
"Talking holistically about homelessness really isn’t moving the ball forward. We’re focused on a few areas where we think we can move the needle,” Executive Director of the Lucky Duck Foundation Drew Moser said.
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Moser and his Lucky Duck Foundation paid for and raised the Alpha Project tent. The Lucky Duck Foundation is in the business of getting people who are homeless by no fault of their own, off the street. Not 10 or 20, but hundreds at a time.
“There is nothing perfect in homelessness and there is no perfect site, but given where homelessness is trending we feel it’s critical to activate sites as quickly as possible,“ Moser said.
Lucky Duck will likely play an essential role in the city’s plan to create safe camping sites for the homeless in the coming months.
The organization already proposed the use of Inspiration Point, it’s the overflow parking lot in Balboa Park, Moser said.
“It’s a large city-owned property. It could fit two large industrial tent structures and shelter at least 500 people,” Moser said.
The city also likes Inspiration Point. The surface has a pitch to it so there is no fear of flooding. It’s served by utilities like water and power. It’s close to homeless services and transportation.
Those same criteria are used to select all of the properties the city intends to use. So far just two more near the downtown area are being considered, but they’ve not yet been named.
Those against an encampment ordinance argue there are not enough shelters to house the nearly 2,000 homeless in San Diego. That charging them with a crime for sleeping on the street is not a solution to the problem.
“It is simply unacceptable to pitch a tent on a sidewalk when another far safer option is available,” San Diego Todd Gloria said.
After the Land Use and Housing Committee's decision to pass the encampment ordinance to the full council for a vote, Mayor Gloria pledged new safe sleeping spaces.
“If we adopt safe camping along with safe sleeping, I think we are in a position to provide more options for people sleeping on the streets,” Mayor Gloria said.
The Mayor expects to have an enforceable ordinance by mid-summer and safe sleeping arrangements available along that same timeline.
