It’s been three months since the City of San Diego started clearing homeless encampments on state property near downtown freeways.
As of Tuesday, the city said it has cleaned up 184 encampments. Outreach workers have connected 43 people to shelter and 37 people to other services, according to the city. Crews have also removed 151 tons of trash and debris.
“Our goals have been to dispose of the trash and debris, to protect both those living in the encampments and the surrounding communities, and to connect people experiencing homelessness with shelter services and, ultimately, a pathway off the streets for good,” Mayor Todd Gloria said at a press conference Tuesday morning.
In July, the city signed an agreement with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) that allows city crews to go onto state property along five miles of freeway through downtown, Little Italy, Sherman Heights, East Village and Barrio Logan.
The agreement has allowed outreach workers to stay in touch with people experiencing homelessness, even if they move from city to state property. That’s according to Ketra Carter, a program manager with the city's Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department.
“This agreement allowed us the access to stay consistently engaged with the individuals without having to be mindful of jurisdictional boundaries,” she said.
That consistency gives people more opportunities to accept help, Gloria said.
“For those who say no, we're right back the next day to repeat that conversation again,” he said. “People either accept the services or they move on. Either way, the encampment is addressed and we get the result that we want, which is to reduce the unsafe camping situations along our high speed freeways.”
Gloria said building more housing and providing emergency rental assistance are key to keeping people out of homelessness.
San Diego’s agreement with Caltrans lasts for one year.
