PARKING LOT READY FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE
New 17-space lot in unincorporated area near El Cajon
A small parking lot that will allow homeless people to legally sleep in their cars overnight will be a first for East County when it opens tonight, but officials behind the program say it won’t be the last.
County Supervisor Joel Anderson and other speakers at a Wednesday morning news conference on the site said East County is overdue for services to help homeless people, and the 17-space lot is a first step.
The safe parking lot is on Caltrans property off of North Magnolia Avenue under the Greenfield Drive overpass, which once was the site of a homeless encampment with about 60 tents and makeshift structures.
Anderson and other speakers occasionally were drowned out by the roar of state Route 67 directly behind them during the news conference.
The lot will be operated by the nonprofit Dreams for Change, which oversees two other safe parking lots in the city of San Diego. CEO Teresa Smith said the lot will have restrooms and clients will be provided two meals a
day, membership to a local YMCA with showers, and access to services for financial advice, employment, CalFresh and other services.
“Pets are welcome,” she added. “They are part of our family.”
The lot will not accept recreational vehicles, and cars must be operational and have to be driven off the site by 7:30 a.m. and allowed to return at 5:30 p.m. Funds in the program will be available to assist in some vehicle repairs.
People interested in using the site first must enroll in the program through the county by calling (619) 980-4168 or emailing HSEC-OHS.HHSA @sdcounty.ca.gov.
Nick Macchione, director of the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, said the former homeless encampment soon will be a resource for long-term solutions to help people get off the street.
“And I promise you, it’s not going to be the last one, not only here in East County,
but throughout the rest of our county of San Diego,” he said. “Today marks a piece of a bigger plan that we have in our region in making a difference in the lives of unsheltered San Diegans who are counting on us. “
Macchione said a crisis response team already is up and running in East County, and he credited Anderson with helping to create a crisis stabilization unit that will assist people in the area who are dealing with drug and mental health issues.
Five units already exist in the county.
“Today is a spoke in the hub,” he said. “Safe parking is extremely important, but we have a lot of other spokes we have to build.”
Barbara Jiménez, director of the county’s Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities Department, said 103 people who had formerly lived on the site were connected to some type of housing. Outreach teams engaged with people on the site about 700 times, distributed 218 hygiene kits and assisted in 182 transactions to connect people with MediCal, CalFresh and other services. Nurses also administered 48 vaccines to people on the site, she said.
“This is a historic step for us,” she said about the new parking site. “We’re really proud.”
A count of homeless people throughout San Diego County conducted in January found that 20 percent of the region’s homeless population is in East County, up from 14 percent in 2019.
This year’s count found 1,700 homeless people in East County, with 1,300 people in El Cajon. Of those, most were in some type of shelter.
Santee had East County’s second largest homeless population with 150 people. Of those, about two-thirds were in a shelter.