North County Launches Winter Shelter Network

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 1, 2008 at 3:38 PM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Nine North County cities have coordinated with non-profit agencies and the County of San Diego to run a winter shelter network designed to get people off the streets. KPBS reporter Alison St John has

Nine North County cities have coordinated with non -profit agencies and the County of San Diego to run a winter shelter network designed to get people off the streets. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

This is the second year North County has a coordinated regional shelter network. Shelters in Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista and Escondido will offer 240 beds – that’s 50 more than last year.

The residents have to commit to a self improvement program designed to get them into employment and long term housing.

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Coordinator Mel Takahara says the shelters will offer a bed, a warm meal and a place to shower and launder clothes. But he says there isn’t money in the budget for something that makes a big difference to those struggling to get back into the mainstream: a monthly bus pass.

Takahara: That bus pass really transforms a person’s life rather than figure out how they are going to get back and forth to work or having to walk from place to place.

Takahara says many of those in last year’s program were able to get off the streets.

But he says even though the program has expanded this year, demand for the places has increased even more, because of the economic downturn.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.