The Escondido City Council on Wednesday will consider adopting a city homelessness strategy that rejects the housing first approach and instead calls for a “public safety-first approach.”
The city’s homelessness policy draft suggests enforcing tougher consequences on the “pervasive and consistent level of criminal activity” among the city’s homeless population and calls for an end to free resources for homeless people that “enables substance use or homelessness.”
It also says Escondido will pursue a city-run homeless shelter that requires sobriety and would serve only Escondido’s unhoused residents.
The statement was drafted by the city’s homelessness subcommittee, which includes Escondido Mayor Dane White and Councilmember Joe Garcia.
Here’s what it says: The three-page document starts off by acknowledging that homelessness is a complex issue with a variety of underlying causes including housing affordability, mental health concerns and substance abuse disorders.
It goes on to say that there is a high level of criminal activity within the city’s homeless population, and that this is perpetuated by those with untreated substance abuse disorders.
It refers to “this specific type of unsheltered person,” who creates “an unreasonable burden on emergency services, the criminal justice system and affects the safety of the community” as “criminal transients.”
“To ignore this reality by primarily attributing homelessness to housing availability and affordability is naïve,” the statement says. “We support a Public Safety First approach towards homelessness that ensures the safety of our community and economic viability of our future.”
It’s unclear what specific strategies would be implemented with a public safety-first approach, but the statement promises to prioritize specific parks, streets and public buildings where “crimes such as vandalism, arson and the dumping of biological waste… must cease.”
It also says the city will advocate for “criminal justice reform” at the local and state level that will “force an individual experiencing homelessness to accept help,” but in a way that “does not seek to punish individuals for being a victim of substance abuse disorder.”
The housing first approach, the statement says, is “ineffective and unsustainable with the exception of seniors who may have been priced out of the housing market due to their limited and/or fixed income.”
Instead, drug addiction and untreated mental health concerns are the root cause of homelessness in Escondido, the policy says.
Though many Republicans in the region tend to agree with this idea, it differs from most homeless advocates and service providers who argue that homelessness is, in fact, a housing problem. Supporters of the housing first model believe providing a stable home is the first step to helping people recover from life on the streets and drug and mental health crises.
A city-run shelter that requires sobriety: The statement also says the city will pursue its own shelter that is funded and operated by the city. And this shelter will only accept homeless people from Escondido.
“[We] support an Escondido First approach that prioritizes unsheltered individuals in our community with direct ties to Escondido,” the draft says. “Leaving individuals unhoused in Escondido while accepting residents from other cities is unacceptable.”
The policy indicates that this shelter would require sobriety, also known as a higher barrier shelter.
“The City of Escondido will not support any program that enables continued drug use or allows individuals to continue living on the street, regardless of how well-intentioned the programs may be or who may endorse them. We will not participate in the distribution of free resources such as tents, tarps, syringes, drug pipes, or anything else that enables substance abuse or homelessness.”
During a virtual community meeting earlier this month, White said the policy has been in the works for several months, the Escondido Times-Advocate reported. It’s slated to go before the City Council on Feb. 28 for approval.
White also said the city will eventually pursue a public camping ban similar to the one in San Diego.
White and Garcia did not respond to requests for comment or further details on the policy.
Reminder: Escondido currently has the highest unsheltered homeless population of all the cities in North County, according to last year’s point-in-time count, with 304 unsheltered homeless people.
And last August, the city stopped contributing funds to one of the city’s two homeless shelters – Haven House run by Interfaith Community Services. The move was highly controversial among residents who criticized city officials for not supporting one of the few shelters in the city and in North County.
At the time, city officials told Interfaith they were concerned that the shelter was serving too many homeless people that weren’t from Escondido. White indicated at the Aug. 9 City Council meeting that he would be pushing for the city to open its own shelter, one that is run by the city.
One more thing: Earlier this month, the county Board of Supervisors approved a proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to look into several county-owned properties that could potentially serve as emergency homeless shelters.
One of the locations listed was a 2-acre lot in Escondido, but it was removed from the resolution after Escondido Mayor Dane White and Supervisor Jim Desmond criticized the idea.
They argued that county leaders should have given Escondido more notice and worked with the city to identify a location together. White said then that the proposed site, located in the city’s downtown business district, isn’t the right fit for a shelter, but that city leaders are willing to work with the county to find a different site.
Good for Escondido and I’ll be praying for their success. I live in an area with a lot of homeless encampments and most of the people I’ve talked to do need help with addictions and mental health. I’m also happy to see that they want a sober homeless shelter. That’s how Father Joe’s Villages was when I was there and it was great. After they dropped the sobriety requirement it wasn’t pleasant to be there, from what I heard. I’d love to see people get the real help they need, and able-bodied people to have job training and jobs waiting so they’ll have productive lives after they beat their addictions. That would be awesome! God bless all, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
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A suggestion to consider for Escondido. Countywide we have more people becoming homeless than are being helped by programs to get them off the street. Many studies has shown that a small stipend of $300 – $500 per month would keep most people in their apartments rather than putting them on the street.
For those who would complain of the cost, consider that the $500 per month subsidy is $6,000 per year. One ER visit by a homeless person costs many, many times the amount of that subsidy. We are far better off stopping people from becoming homeless that trying to get them off the street once they become homeless.
Bravo Escondido
Great job! Love ths locals only shelter. Much better approach than other cities. Great job Escondidio.
Hopefully this helps our area of Escondido has more trash. And we’ve had car break in’s, Graffiti and now a fire in our parking garage. We don’t know who caused the fire but we know homeless have sheltered in our garage several times.