As a resident of Lemon Grove, CA and a parent whose home is just within a quarter mile of the proposed building site for homeless cabins, I am deeply concerned about the impact this will have in the communities of Lemon Grove and Spring Valley. With five schools located within a mile of this site, our children will become the first to interact with this facility and its occupants–a situation that presents potential safety issues. This sits on the border of two communities that need new roads, graffiti removal, trash picked up and businesses to clean up. This proposed area has a liquor store across the street and several situated between Palm, Troy and Bancroft. There is a halfway house a half a block away on Troy Street behind the gas station that houses mentally ill and there already has been numerous incidents. Just 3/4 of a mile away the county is proposing a safe parking lot that on Bancroft for 27 homeless living in the cars also not an item that the community members were able to address. So in this small area with numerous preschools/schools/daycares, there are the liquor stores this was marijuana row of stores, two county parks that are not maintained properly, a halfway mental illness facility, and tax paying citizens. We are some of those folks that oppose this and want the vote rescinded!

Our state government has poured $24 billion into combating homelessness over the past three years, yet we have not seen any notable improvements (source: CA Government Finance Reports). The pilot program which implemented these sleeping cabins proved to be a failure in other parts of our state, fraught with issues such as drug addiction, dealing, and prostitution. 

Our community, like many others in our state, is an area of middle to lower class households and we are tired of being the default choice for controversial projects. We strongly believe our officials should explore more sustainable and productive solutions to homelessness, that treat the root causes of the problem and respect the safety and integrity of all communities.

It's time to redirect our government's spending towards strategies that provide more than a temporary shelter. We don't want our city to become a launder for wasteful expenditure. We, the residents of Lemon Grove and Spring Valley CA, call on our government to stop the construction of these cabins and seek comprehensive, safer solutions. We urge everyone who shares our concern to sign this petition.