SAN DIEGO HOMELESS SHELTER AT CENTER TO CLOSE
About half of the 900 homeless people sheltered at the San Diego Convention Center are scheduled to move out of the venue and into permanent homes next week with the remainder expected to leave the following week, city officials said Tuesday.
Closing the shelter after eight months in operation does not mean the convention center will be returning to its intended use anytime soon, however.
After speaking at a Tuesday press conference outside the venue, convention center President and CEO Rip Rippetoe said no events are booked during the first quarter of 2021, but others are scheduled, for now, in April and May.
“Everything from May on is a strong possibility,” he
said, acknowledging some doubts about April.
While 18 events in early 2021 already have been canceled, four are still on the books for March, with the first and largest the IPC Apex Expo for electronics manufacturers, which could draw 8,000 people March 911.
Seven events still are scheduled for April, including a private event and seminar that could attract 14,000 people April 8-9. For now, Comic-Con International still is scheduled for July 22-25.
As the shelter at the San Diego Convention Center winds down, local officials are calling the venture a success that at times helped protect more than 1,000 people daily from the coronavirus while also finding permanent homes for 1,100.
“This is new a model, and this pandemic brought our region together like never before,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at the press conference.
The convention center shelter opened in April following concerns that city
run shelters in two large tents and at Golden Hall in the downtown San Diego Concourse were too crowded and could be a breeding ground for the coronavirus.
Hundreds of people were moved from the shelters to the more-spacious convention center, which itself had fallen victim to the coronavirus, as more than 100 events were canceled or moved online since March.
Hall H, famous as the Comic-Con room where some of the biggest stars in Hollywood discuss their latest blockbusters before thousands of fans each summer, was filled with cots and tables for homeless people. Stations were set up for counselors, case workers and for health screenings and COVID-19 tests while trailers with showers and laundry rooms were parked in the loading docks.
The convention center always was intended as a temporary venture and is funded just through the end of December.
About 400 people will move out Dec. 7 and into permanent homes at two extended-stay hotels recently purchased by the city. The following week, the
remaining 500 are expected to move back to the two large shelter tents operated by the Alpha Project and into the Golden Hall shelter operated by Father Joe’s Villages.
The three shelters have been reconfigured with fewer beds to allow for more social distancing.
In one of his last appearances as mayor before leaving office next Thursday, Faulconer said the Shelter to Home program was successful because of the collaborative effort of state, county and local officials, including the San Diego Housing Commission and Regional Task Force on the Homeless.
Faulconer said the effort proved successful in protecting people from the pandemic, with only 27 residents and staff members testing positive for the coronavirus out of 9,300 tests administered since April.
While the pandemic was the driving motivation for creating the shelter, Faulconer said having so many people under one roof created opportunities for agencies to work together on housing people, resulting in three times as many people finding permanent
homes than in past years.
“These collaborative efforts, with emphasis on collaborative, have helped 840 individuals, plus an additional 45 families get into housing already,” he said, adding that the numbers do not include the 400 who will move into homes at a cityowned hotel on Hotel Circle and another in Kearny Mesa.
San Diego Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry said the purchase of the two properties was finalized Wednesday.
State Assemblyman Todd Gloria, who will be sworn as San Diego’s new mayor next Thursday, said homelessness will continue to be a top priority when he takes office.
“There is no amount of people living on the streets that we ought to be comfortable with,” he said. “One person is too many. That’s why I set the goal of ending chronic homelessness in our city in our administration.”
At its peak, the convention center shelter held 1,300 people. Faulconer said it is providing shelter for about 900 people this week.