Category: Homelessness

New Ordinance Is Very Majestic for It Not Only Bans the Poor from Camping on Public Land, It Also Bans the Rich from Camping on Public Land

Late last night, a slim majority of the San Diego City Council approved a controversial homeless camping ban — that was amended with some changes.

After hundreds of people testified over four hours either in Chambers or online — most of whom opposed the proposed ordinance — and after another 6 hours or so of staff presentations and debate, Council members Marni von Wilpert, Joe LaCava, Stephen Whitburn – the author of the proposal, Jen Campbell, and Raul Campillo passed the ordinance. Council members Sean Elo-Rivera, Monica Montgomery Steppe, Kent Lee and Vivian Moreno voted against it.

By Mat Wahlstrom

Today, June 13, the City Council will vote to make appearing unhoused in public illegal. Euphemistically called a ‘unauthorized camping ban,” its purpose is to pretend to solve a problem by making it invisible.

Despite winning election largely by campaigning to solve the homeless crisis that undid the political prospects of his predecessor, Todd Gloria has doubled down on Kevin Faulconer’s policy of all stick and no carrot. Cynically or not, yesterday even Faulconer called out this latest effort

As San Diego Mayor Gloria called for the City Council to pass an ordinance on June 13th restricting homeless encampments throughout the city, recent counts of the county and downtown’s unhoused population show record highs.

A count conducted in January found a record high 10,264 homeless people throughout San Diego County, including 5,171 living outdoors or in vehicles. The results of the Jan. 26 count represent a 22 percent increase from last year’s count of 8,427 homeless people.

By Gary Warth / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 23, 2023

A divided county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to authorize up to $32 million in loans toward the city of San Diego’s potential purchase of four residential properties that could be used to house more than 300 homeless people.

The city’s Housing Commission is considering buying the properties with money from the state’s Project Homekey program, and the purchases are contingent on receiving the grants.

Wesley Hill, a 25-year resident of Ocean Beach, is upset. While riding the Ocean Beach bike path on his bicycle, after dodging trash and debris from homeless encampments along the pathway, he ran into a skateboard, crashed head first, cracking some teeth and costing him dental bills.

Hill told Brian White of CBS8:

“The bike path has been a mess for months, if not years. Encampments, other people using it to do drugs, it’s become a public toilet. Frequently, you see shopping carts all over the place.”

At their May 12 meeting, the San Diego Housing Commission unanimously agreed to apply for state funds to help purchase a vacant apartment building at 2147 Abbott Street in Ocean Beach and the Ramada Inn in the Midway District  to provide permanent housing for homeless people.

The Commissioners voted to apply for up to $5 million to help purchase the apartment building which would create 13 units. Vacant since January 2022, the property — if bought — would provide 13 units for people who had experienced chronic homelessness and whose income is up to 30 percent of the area median income, which is $27,350 a year for a one-person household.

By Divya Kakaiya, Ph.D., M.S./ San Diego Union-Tribune Op-Ed / April 24, 2023

As a psychologist who began practicing nearly 40 years ago, I’ve seen a significant shift in the care of the mentally ill since the mid-1980s — and it hasn’t been for the better.

After the deinstitutionalization movement began in California in the 1960s, many state mental health hospitals closed, forcing many folks who needed a lot of care onto the streets.

The San Diego City Council will vote Tuesday, April 25th at 2 pm on an ordinance proposed by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera to provide protections to renters from eviction as long as they continue to pay rent and comply with their lease.

But opposition to the proposal is growing and residents are being rallied to call in or attend the meeting to show or voice issues they have with it.

By Gary Warth / San Diego Union-Tribune / April 18, 2023

After six years of homelessness, Edward Honore has had it with life on the street.

“I was just stabbed the other day, in my own neighborhood,” he said, rolling up his blood-stained right sleeve to expose a fresh scar. Honore was standing in line just past 8 a.m. one recent morning at the Neil Good Day Center, a drop-in facility for homeless people in downtown San Diego. Like others in line, he hoped to be assigned a bed in a city-funded shelter operated by the Alpha Project or Father Joe’s Villages.

From Change.org Petition Stop Criminalizing Homelessness in San Diego Further

It is very short-sighted and unconscionable to pass the ordinance proposed jointly by Councilmember Whitburn and Mayor Gloria as it currently stands.

The proposed ordinance proves to be uncertain in its efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of San Diego’s homeless population as it calls for inhumane practices by confiscating people’s property

by Cody Dulaney/ inewsource / March 28, 2023

A Superior Court judge could undermine San Diego’s strategy to clear homeless encampments from city sidewalks and parks.

This afternoon, Judge Yvonne Campos is set to hear final arguments in a pretrial hearing for a misdemeanor case against a 59-year-old unhoused woman charged with encroachment. It’s a city law that was intended to prohibit trash cans from blocking a sidewalk, but San Diego police have increasingly used it to break up tent encampments that officials say pose a risk to health and safety.

Somebody was listening.

Late last week, we reported that the city was close to utilizing 12 or 13 of the trailers it had stored for 3 years, given to the city by the state for unhoused needy families. On Wednesday, March 15, the San Diego City Council‘s Rules Committee had voted unanimously to move forward a plan to open a safe parking lot in the Clairemont – Rose Canyon neighborhood for people who sleep overnight in campers or other vehicles.

We’ve been covering the “lost trailers” for the homeless for weeks in the hopes there would be some public and or media traction that would pressure the Gloria administration to get on the ball and put the trailers to the use that was intended.