Mayor Gloria Includes ‘H-Barracks’ in His State of City Address; Meanwhile Crews Work to Demolish Old Buildings

In Mayor Gloria’s State of the City Address last night, Wed., Jan. 10, he used a reference to “H-Barracks”as one of  his sites for people suffering from homelessness. Here’s his reference:

Over the past three years, our City-funded outreach, shelter and family reunification programs, have successfully placed more than 3,600 people into permanent housing. This year, consistent with our comprehensive shelter strategy, we will build on this progress and bring forward the largest homeless services proposals this City has ever pursued.

The first is a plan to add another 1,000 beds to our homeless shelter system by this time next year at new sites, like H Barracks, near the San Diego International Airport.

Rightly or wrongly, this remark shows that Gloria has doubled down on using H-Barracks as part of his plans for a homeless shelter system.

Here’s all his remarks during a section of the speech titled, “Homelessness.”

Without a doubt, this exceptionally addictive drug is undermining our efforts to address homelessness, adding another layer of complexity to this nationwide challenge. While it’s true that the solution to homelessness is a home, it’s not always that simple. The puzzle that is homelessness is an extraordinarily complicated one. That’s why, over the past three years, my administration has pursued a comprehensive strategy that tackles the homelessness crisis on all fronts. And while the mission is far from accomplished, we have made significant progress.

We have opened a series of new programs tailored to seniors, women, families, LGBTQ youth and people with substance-use issues. Since April 2021, we have more than doubled the options for people experiencing homelessness to come off the street. We’ve also maximized the space in our existing shelters and expanded our successful Safe Parking Program. Last year, we launched our newest effort to get more people off the street – our Safe Sleeping Program, championed by Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.

The program includes two sites with space for more than 1,000 people to get off the streets and connected to services that will help them end their homelessness. In just a few months, our Safe Sleeping Program has already moved more than 600 people off the streets.

Over the past three years, our City-funded outreach, shelter and family reunification programs, have successfully placed more than 3,600 people into permanent housing. This year, consistent with our comprehensive shelter strategy, we will build on this progress and bring forward the largest homeless services proposals this City has ever pursued.

The first is a plan to add another 1,000 beds to our homeless shelter system by this time next year at new sites, like H Barracks, near the San Diego International Airport. The second is a redevelopment of the site of our Old Downtown Central Library. We plan?to create additional shelter space along with?hundreds of new affordable, permanent homes for low-income and formerly homeless San Diegans. In the meantime, it will continue to serve as a temporary shelter for women.

I’m proud of all that the City of San Diego has done to address homelessness in our communities. I’ve also been clear that our city cannot bear the burden of this crisis alone. Homelessness is not exclusive to the City of San Diego.

Meanwhile, city crews are busy at work tearing down the old buildings at H-Barracks — as documented by Peninsula News of the Pt Loma Association: