Encinitas will not be sending off a previously prepared application requesting $3.9 million in state grant funding to eradicate homeless encampments near Interstate 5 and two other high-impact locations.
Read more Investigator testifies in murder trial about efforts to find missing Chula Vista woman
The City Council last week voted 4-1, with Councilmember Joy Lyndes opposed, to direct city housing staff not to submit the application to the state Housing and Community Development department’s Encampment Resolution Funding Grant Program. The state’s deadline to apply is June 30.
“Just because someone wants to give us money doesn’t mean it aligns with what we’re doing,” Councilmember Jim O’Hara said as he explained why he was recommending that the city not pursue the state grant.
Prior state-funded, homeless eradication efforts have been spectacularly unsuccessful, O’Hara argued, saying those have focused on a “Housing First” mentality where the people being helped are not required to undergo substance abuse treatment before they can receive housing.
Other members of the council majority said they worried that the grant would come with “strings attached,” and Mayor Bruce Ehlers said he didn’t trust the state HCD department “for many other reasons,” particularly its management of the state Density Bonus Law. Under provisions of that law, many large, multi-family housing projects are now being constructed in Encinitas, including several on or near Encinitas Boulevard.
The mayor added that he so distrusted the state’s HCD department that he was even willing to support having the city spend its own money to resolve homeless encampment issues, and also suggested that city staff explore other funding options, perhaps at the federal level.
Lyndes said that applying for the grant was the “no-risk option” as Encinitas could later turn down the grant money if the state decided to put new conditions on it that the city didn’t like. She also said that she thought city staff had crafted a good, homeless encampment eradication proposal “that’s tailored to Encinitas” and addresses any potential concerns people might have about how housing will be handled for people who have mental health and/or substance abuse issues.
Read more Supreme Court ruling gives a reprieve to states with grace periods for receiving mail ballots
A representative for San Diego Rescue Mission, which the council unanimously hired last year to begin providing homeless outreach services, encouraged council members to support the grant application, saying that the Rescue Mission has worked with the city of Vista using this program and has experienced no issues with the state regarding it.
Encinitas city staff’s draft grant application states that the city would use the potential funding for a multi-year program that would relocate homeless people who are illegally camping near Interstate 5 between Manchester Avenue and La Costa Avenue, as well as in the downtown Transit Center area and the 44-acre Encinitas Community Park near Santa Fe Drive.
The draft paperwork mentions that there are people living in tents, under tarps and in “hand-built wooden shelters,” as well as in vehicles near these areas.
“(These) residents are predominantly older adults with chronic medical and behavioral health conditions, mobility impairments, substance use disorders, and long-term disengagement from services,” the draft application states, adding that “these combined vulnerabilities, along with repeated emergency responses and seasonal population fluctuations,” make resolving the problems in these locations a high priority for the city.
The application also states that the city would expand upon the efforts that San Diego Rescue Mission has been using since Encinitas hired it to handle homelessness services last year, including getting these homeless people into sober living programs. About 100 people would receive outreach services during the four-year program, it states.
To view the draft document, visit: https://encinitas.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=3862&meta_id=209299
Read more What the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Cook case means for Federal Reserve independence
