San Diego can never make up its mind about homelessness

The homeless are dying on the streets of San Diego, again.

It’s a recurring situation that results from a history of neglect, questionable policy decisions, philosophic disagreements, inadequate resources, nonuse of available resources — and sometimes chance.

The automobile crash on Monday that killed three homeless people and injured six others on the sidewalk under the B Street bridge at City College could have happened anywhere. But it didn’t.

The victims were seeking shelter from the rain. The incident once more brought into sharp focus local government’s historic inability to make a quantum leap forward in reducing the number of homeless people across the region.

It was another tragedy. People living outdoors have been the victims of infectious disease and deadly attacks, in addition to the hunger, exposure to the elements and other challenges many regularly face.

Staff members at nonprofit organizations and government agencies for years have worked hard to get people off the street and to improve their lives. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually on myriad efforts.

Much has been done. More permanent housing has come on line — such as recently converted hotels — and more is planned. Homeless outreach efforts have been bolstered and mental health services have been expanded.

Yet, the approach has been fragmented and inconsistent over the years, often shifting with whoever is in charge at City Hall or the County Administration Center.

There has been a constant push-pull of prioritizing permanent housing over temporary tent shelters and vice versa. Winter shelters have come and gone, as have overnight inclement weather shelters.

In reality, all may be needed in some form — at the same time. Yes, that’s an expensive proposition.

Government policies helped create the situation, but they since haven’t done enough to resolve it.

While it might not be the original sin that exacerbated homelessness, the loss of

inexpensive, single-occupancy hotel rooms over decades of redevelopment stands out. Nearly 10,000 SROS were demolished, converted or otherwise removed from the housing stock from 2010 to 2016, according to a 2018 investigation by The San Diego Union-tribune.

Laws were in place essentially requiring such low-cost housing to be replaced, but through waivers and other actions, a lot of them weren’t.

Many of those SROS were rundown and in disrepair, but they were often viewed as the lowest rung of housing that kept people from falling into homelessness. They were often replaced by office buildings, boutique hotels and other more-profitable ventures.

Current Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, was on the City Council during much of that time and his predecessor, Republican Kevin Faulconer, was either on the council or in the Mayor’s Office for all of it. Both have since made combating homelessness a cornerstone of their policy platforms. Faulconer is currently running for governor.

During that period, then-gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 successfully pushed to shutter redevelopment agencies, which had funded efforts to revitalize urban areas and create housing across the state. He claimed the money was being widely misused and needed the cash to help offset a huge state budget deficit.

The city’s seasonal winter shelter program provided big tents for homeless people to stay in over the course of four months. Upon his election in 2012, Mayor Bob Filner sought to keep the shelters open yearround. That lasted about 19 months and ended after scandal forced him from office in 2013.

In 2015, the city ended its winter tent shelter program, which had existed for decades. Most of the people were transferred to a shelter in a building at St. Vincent de Paul, which was under contract with the city to operate it.

That was essentially a wash in terms of the number of beds provided. A 2019 report said overall the city needed up to 500 more shelter beds.

The city and homeless service agencies used to provide overnight, inclement-weather shelter for more than 150 people. But as Gary Warth of the Uniontribune pointed out, those shelters closed in the earlymorning hours, sending people back outside. He noted those facilities would not have been open at 9 a.m., when the driver plowed into people hunkering down under the B Street bridge on Monday.

After the crash, advocates for the homeless criticized the county for not allowing people without shelter to use empty hotel rooms that were secured for people at high risk for contracting COVID-19.

Gloria also has been pressed about why he just recently sought hotel reimbursements for the homeless that have been available since January through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to a shortage of shelter beds, some homeless people simply don’t want to commit to staying in them — for various reasons — even if space is available. But everybody wants to get out of the rain — hence the popularity of bridges — suggesting bad-weather shelters might be viewed differently.

Political momentum shifted from temporary shelters toward more permanent housing after Faulconer became mayor in 2014. Gloria has long advocated the “housing first” approach to homelessness.

Faulconer quickly changed direction following the hepatitis A outbreak that peaked in 2017 and eventually killed 20 people and sickened nearly 600. Homeless San Diegans were hit hard and officials said unsanitary conditions related to people living on the street contributed to the problem.

Pressed by civic leaders, Faulconer agreed to set up temporary homeless tent shelters — largely funded through the efforts of Padres Chairman Peter Seidler and restaurant chain operator Dan Shea. The shelters were operated by nonprofit agencies under contract with the city.

Another outbreak — the coronavirus pandemic — forced the closure of the tightly packed tents and Faulconer opened up the spacious convention center to serve as a temporary shelter. With the pandemic seemingly winding down, the homeless inhabitants soon will be moved back to reconfigured tent shelters.

As he geared up to run for governor, Faulconer publicly derided the “housing first” approach to addressing homelessness. Gloria has made clear the city will embrace that concept under his administration.

Whether the B Street crash results in sweeping new action is unclear. The hepatitis outbreak and B Street tragedy were very different situations — an infectious disease that threatened the entire region versus a freak incident that killed and injured several unfortunate people.

But the consequences of both stemmed from homelessness. Meanwhile, San Diego continues struggling to find a long-term solution.

Tweet of the week

Goes to Chris Megerian (@Chrismegerian) of the Los Angeles Times quoting President Joe Biden.

“‘This is a time for optimism, but it’s not a time for relaxation.’”