Below is the response to the Save the Park petition by Stephen Whitburn's office (3rd district citycouncilperson)
Dear Michael and signers of the petition:
Thank you for reaching out and for your advocacy.
We all agree that the situation is unacceptable. As councilmember mentioned in the zoom, we are working and advocating for expanding street outreach, creating more diverse shelter options, ensuring there are enough bathrooms to protect public health, and building affordable housing with wraparound supportive services. This is a complex problem and I know we all understand there is no quick fix. We have advocated for additional outreach to Balboa Park.
That said and as Mayor Gloria has mentioned we’re also adding different types of shelter to address particular needs within our unsheltered population, not only for women and families but also for folks with behavioral health, substance use disorders and medical needs as well.
Adding to the C-HRT shelter in Midway, which we opened this past winter to serve people with significant behavioral-health issues, we have more beds coming online soon:
Next month, we’re opening a 40-bed women’s shelter Downtown with Catholic Charities.
This summer, we‘ll build on this program by bringing on a new, 22-bed C-HRT Safe Haven facility. The City is in contract negotiations on that now.
As has been reported, we are working with the County of San Diego and the Lucky Duck Foundation to open a new homeless shelter in Midway that will provide between 125 to 150 additional shelter beds.
· The City will handle all operations and maintenance of the shelter, and the County will provide behavioral health care.
We’re also going to open 84 beds at our Palm Avenue facility while we finalize our long-term plan for the SMART program at that site. This immediate use of the facility will allow us to provide non-congregate shelter for people who have been matched with housing and are waiting for their permanent homes to be ready.
This will free up beds in other shelters where these folks are staying now, and act as a bridge for them while they await their permanent housing.
Since the start of the year, we have connected 288 people directly from our shelters to housing. Since July 1 of last year, that number is 588.
Last Monday, the Housing Commission gave the City and the County the go-ahead to send a joint application for state Project Homekey funding – to build a new permanent supportive housing project that will provide homes for 40 chronically homeless residents.
Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted to commit roughly 11 million dollars in support of the project. The application to the state, which we will do before the May 2 deadline.
The Councilmember also understands the frustration regarding the bathrooms in Balboa Park and believes we need clean and safe facilities to use.
As many of you are aware, the City’s Park and Rec Department is experiencing a major staffing transition that began with the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have seen numerous staff retirements and resignations through that time even into 2022. This has left them, along with many other employers and contractors, in the process of hiring more staff. However, they are still short-staffed and are using other mechanisms such as overtime to help fill the gap so as to reduce impacts to the parks, but on occasion, there will be noticeable issues that arise.
One thing that Councilmember has asked residents to do is to call into our upcoming budget hearings to demand more funding for homelessness solutions and our Park and Rec Department so that they can have the staff to clean and keep bathrooms in the condition that they need to be in. Meeting Search Results - OnBase Agenda Online (hylandcloud.com)
Best regards,
Ryan
Ryan Darsey (He/Him/His)
Director of Community Engagement
Office of Councilmember Stephen Whitburn
City of San Diego, Third District
202 C Street, M.S. 10A
San Diego, CA 92101
Office: (619) 236-6734