Lemon Grove is looking into ways to help its homeless population and is hoping to start or continue partnerships with groups that assist people without shelter.
According to the 2019 Point-in-Time Count coordinated by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, Lemon Grove had 35 persons found to be living homeless. The 2020 numbers counted in January are not yet available, but many in the city say realistically the number of homeless individuals in Lemon Grove is more than twice that many.
Last week, the City Council discussed several options of what it can do about those living on the street, as part of what its staff is calling the “Lemon Grove Homelessness Partnership Plan.”
The homelessness partnership plan will include seeking out more dialogue and meetings with several groups that focus on homeless individuals, including El Cajon-based Crisis House and The Salvation Army in El Cajon, Home Start, Inc., and Family Health Center of San Diego.
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The plan may include asking a representative from the nonprofit Home Start to create a workspace inside Lemon Grove City Hall to provide the city more hands-on help. A no-fee lease agreement that will allow Home Start to operate from the city as an East County Regional Satellite Office is expected to be brought back to the City Council for approval later this year.
Since 1972, Home Start has worked to address poverty, unsafe neighborhoods, lack of affordable housing and unemployment while meeting people’s emotional needs and their desire to be self-sufficient. Home Start works closely with People Assisting The Homeless to provide an outreach team in East County. Together, they partner to provide coordinated, targeted street-based outreach to at-risk people most in need, including families, those with severe mental illness and transitional age youth.
The Lemon Grove homeless partnership plan is called “dynamic” by Assistant City Manager Mike James because he said it will be continually developing. James said he recommends that “at least every six months (the plan) should be brought back to the City Council” to evaluate its progress and funding needs.
Lemon Grove already participates in meetings held by the East County Homeless Task Force, sharing information and participating in regional discussions, and the City Council said it wants to continue to be part of that.
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The council also said it wants the city to explore grants and other funds to support homeless services, as long as the funds don’t take away from other needs in the city.
It also wants the city’s official website to be updated to reflect additional information about partners and contacts for assistance for homeless individuals.
James said that 2018’s Senate Bill 850 provides for $18.8 million to the San Diego County region to provide immediate assistance to people experiencing homelessness, with about $1.9 million allocated to help East County homeless outreach efforts.
The Homeless Emergency Aid Program funds are distributed by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless and were announced last August for the first year of funding, with an option to renew for a second year.
East County funding included $300,000 to Crisis House’s East County Housing Connections program and $625,000 to Home Start’s East County Collaboration for street outreach and housing navigation for youth and families.
Several City Council members also asked the city to meet with homeless service providers to learn more about questions they had, such as:
- What did each commit to in order to receive funding and what did their proposals say they were going to do?
- What have they accomplished to date?
- How much of the funding did they spend and what was it for?
- How much of the total amount went to the East County region?
- How much from the East County region went to Lemon Grove?
City Councilwoman Jennifer Mendoza, who ran last week’s meeting in Mayor Racquel Vasquez’s absence, said it seems as though El Cajon receives the largest share of money and assistance of four East County cities. That news didn’t come as a surprise as El Cajon typically has one of the largest number of homeless individuals in San Diego County, and also is the largest by area in East County.
But Mendoza said she is concerned about how the three cities besides El Cajon - Lemon Grove, La Mesa and Santee - are finding assistance to help their homeless populations.
Mendoza said she thinks it is more important that the city looks into “not only making sure Lemon Grove is getting our fair share of those funds and that they’re going to these different agencies but also how much time are those agencies spending in Lemon Grove compared to the other parts of East County?”
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James also talked about the work of the countywide Interfaith Shelter Network, which is heavily supported by the Lemon Grove faith-based community. The network provides assistance to those experiencing homelessness through food pantries, providing clothing, supporting a rotational winter shelter and offering mobile showers.
James said that the city’s Public Works Department receives on average five calls per week with requests that are directly related to homelessness. The calls for service include homeless camps, illegal dumping, shopping carts and debris in the right-of-way, blocking the right-of-way and creating a disturbance in public.
Some calls are relayed to the Sheriff’s Department to respond to vacate individuals, but other calls involve camps on private property, camps and debris near the underpasses of state Routes 94 and 125 or in the San Diego MTS right-of-way, and camps in vacant lots, shopping carts and debris in open channel creeks in the city.
James said city staff currently responds to a minimum of three larger encampment clean-ups during any three-month period, and he estimates it costs the city just over $15,000 annually to respond and clean up smaller homeless encampments.
The Sheriff’s Department told the city that calls for service involving homelessness have increased over time and that an estimated 90 percent or more of the homeless calls for service involve a mental illness, being under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both. James said the Sheriff’s Department must be involved in the solutions as the city moves forward, but it should not be the sole solution to solve homelessness.
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February 28, 2020 at 08:02PM
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Lemon Grove looking at ways to deal with homeless - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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