TIME TO SOLVE THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS ALL AROUND US

When a car plowed into a homeless encampment on B Street in Downtown San Diego last week, killing three and injuring at least five, it shocked the conscience of our city. No one should have to sleep on a sidewalk. Tragically, many do. They often suffer horrible deaths. Last week’s incident occurred a month after a similar one in Escondido in which an out-of-control SUV struck and killed two men sleeping in roadside bushes. Several years ago, 14 homeless individuals died in a hepatitis A outbreak spread by unsanitary conditions. In 2016, a serial killer murdered unsheltered San Diegans by impaling them with railroad spikes.

The terrible toll of homelessness extends beyond the dangers faced by the individuals themselves. Neighborhoods worry about canyon fires ignited by those keeping warm. Pedestrians find sidewalks blocked by tents. Property owners face unpleasant cleanup tasks. Businesses lose customers wary of nearby encampments. Despite all these consequences, we haven’t made visible progress in reducing the number of unsheltered people living along our streets.

San Diego is not alone in its failure to end widespread homelessness. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Washington, D.C., and other metropolitan areas have similarly struggled to address the issue effectively despite the efforts of smart and compassionate people. Its persistence points to its complexity as well as the substantial resources and collaboration needed to end it.

Homelessness has many causes, including unaffordable housing, low incomes, domestic violence, prejudice, health problems, mental illness, substance abuse and more. Preventing homelessness in the first place requires tackling those underlying causes. While work has been done in all of those areas, it has clearly been insufficient. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions because the circumstances are unique to each individual.

The many causes of homelessness require multiple jurisdictions to address them. The state and federal governments provide much of the funding, the city facilitates much of the housing, the county stewards much of the health care, a constellation of nonprofit organizations serve specific populations, and neighborhood groups weigh in on the placement of solutions in their communities. It can be difficult to get any organization to operate effectively, let alone get many jurisdictions to operate effectively together.

Of course, the best solutions often don’t come from government. They come from the citizens. We must listen closely to the wisdom of local residents, including those who have experienced homelessness firsthand.

The challenge in front of us is enormous. Yet so is the opportunity. For the first time in memory, the San Diego City Council, the mayor, the county Board of Supervisors, the state Legislature, the governor, Congress and the president of the United States are politically aligned.

We must seize this moment to secure the funding, create the housing and build the programs necessary to address the causes of homelessness. Leaders must aggressively collaborate and push one another to craft multijurisdictional solutions. If we all stay in our lanes, we will never rise to this challenge.

This is true not only for long-term solutions but also for short-term measures to get people off the sidewalks now. Some people just need an acceptable place to stay. We must ensure there’s a shelter bed, motel room or other temporary quarters available for everyone. That means we must fund and open more than we currently have.

For other people, a bed alone is insufficient. They will not succeed in a housed environment without behavioral health care. Shelter combined with services will enable many of them to function semi-independently. Still others cannot fend for themselves due to medical, mental health or substance abuse issues, and they require recuperative or institutional care. All of these measures demand urgency and collaboration.

We must also ask for the support of our neighborhoods. When locations become available to site needed housing and services, neighborhoods are often reluctant to host them.

That’s understandable because we’re wary of the unknown. In reality, there’s little to worry about. In my neighborhood Downtown, there is income-restricted housing across the street, low-income senior housing two blocks down, a bridge shelter two blocks up and permanent supportive housing three blocks away. They’re all perfectly good, quiet neighbors.

We have a moral obligation and every incentive to end widespread homelessness in San Diego. People are demanding progress, and the political jurisdictions are aligned. San Diego is routinely listed among America’s “smartest” or “most educated” cities. To local residents, nonprofit organizations, business leaders, government agencies and elected representatives: Let’s harness this opportunity to put our minds together and solve the humanitarian crisis all around us.