SAN DIEGO TO OPEN 2 SAFE SLEEPING SITES
Lots next to Balboa Park could accommodate more than 500 tents
Hundreds of homeless people in San Diego will have a legal place to live outdoors in tents on cityowned parking lots adjacent to Balboa Park later this year, Mayor Todd Gloria announced Monday.
One site will be in Parking Lot O near the Naval Medical Center and just east of Nursery Road, which could accommodate up to 400 tents.
The second site could accommodate 136 tents and is in the parking lot of a city maintenance yard at 20th and B streets. That site was temporarily used as a campground with individual tents in 2017 as the city tried to quickly get homeless people off the street during a hepatitis A outbreak.
The two lots are on park property, but not within the actual park with museums and other attractions enjoyed by the public.
The safe sleeping sites, as they are known, will be the first of their kind in the county and have individual tents provided by the city. Homeless people often decline offers to move into congregate shelters, and safe sleeping sites are seen as alternatives that people may be more willing to accept.
Monday’s announcement came at a time when the number of homeless people in downtown San Diego has reached a record high.
Speaking with other city officials at a former Barrio Logan Travelodge the city has acquired to convert to a family shelter, Gloria said the $78 million he has proposed for homeless programs in the city budget includes $5 million specifically for safe sleeping sites.
Gloria said the 20th and B streets site should be up and running in July and the O lot should open in the fall.
The mayor also said the new safe sleeping site is in tandem with an ordinance that would prohibit camping on sidewalks when shelter beds are available, which is expected to go before the City Council early next month.
“When the taxpayers of this city are spending tens of millions of dollars on homelessness services to get people off the street and into care, we should expect those on the street to avail themselves of those opportunities,” he said.
Councilmember Stephen
Whitburn proposed the ordinance and also has been pushing for the creation of a safe sleeping site for months. Whitburn’s district includes downtown San Diego, where the number of homeless people living in sidewalk encampments has surged in recent months.
The Downtown San Diego Partnership conducts a monthly count of homeless people in East Village, the Gaslamp Quarter and other surrounding neighborhoods. Its April 27 count found 1,958 people on the street, the highest since the count began in 2012.
Speaking at Monday’s announcement, Whitburn said the new safe sleeping sites will help homeless people while also benefiting downtown residents and businesses.
“I have spoken with a number of people who are tired of living in squalor on the sidewalk and want to be in a better place but do not want to go into an enclosed shelter,” he said. “They have told me they would happily move to a safe sleeping site with bathrooms, with security, with meals and services.”
Also speaking at the announcement, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said housing is the ultimate solution to homelessness, but until more is available, more shelters are needed to get people off the street.
Elo-Rivera credited Whitburn for his persistence in trying to find a safe sleeping site. Whitburn had run into opposition from the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, composed of about 25 park institutions, and the group Love Balboa Park after he proposed creating a safe sleeping site at the Inspiration Point parking lot off Park Boulevard near Interstate 5.
The sites at 20th and B street and Parking Lot O are technically part of Balboa Park, but less visible than Inspiration Point and further away from the actual park.
Elo-Rivera said he had met with Peter Comiskey, executive director of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, about a month ago, and they worked out a solution.
“I made it very clear to Mr. Comiskey that on this problem of homelessness, we can’t just hear no,” he said. “If you say no to something, you better be offering an alternative.”
Elo-Rivera said neighboring communities in San Diego, as well as other cities in the county, need to work together toward solutions.
“I’m excited about what could come next for San Diego, and I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the region stepping up and owning their part of the responsibility to alleviate the suffering throughout the region,” he said.
Steven Snyder, president and CEO of the Fleet Science Center, also appeared at the announcement as a representative of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. Snyder said homelessness is a complex issue that demanded a collaborative community response.
“We all have a role,” he said.