By Catherine Spearnak | SDUN Reporter
About 200 of the city’s homeless will spend San Diego’s rainy season in a now-vacant building owned by the city at 1625 Newton St. in Barrio Logan.
It took the San Diego City Council six weeks and two-and-a-half hours of final discussion to decide unanimously on utilizing the former housing commission office building on Newton Street for the city’s annual Homeless Emergency Winter Shelter Program in 2011.
The Hillcrest-based Alpha Project for the Homeless will operate the shelter. Alpha Project President Bob McElroy said he is “stoked” about the council’s decision.
“The Newton Street site is central to all the needs the homeless have—it’s two blocks from downtown, and a block from the Logan Heights health center, where many of them get their medical needs taken care of,” he said.
The decision was not without a voice of concern from 8th District Councilman Ben Hueso, whose district includes Barrio Logan. The building will house the homeless from approximately Thanksgiving to April 1 for the 220 homeless who can reside there during San Diego’s colder, sometimes rainy months.
Hueso said he would approve the plan only if it was “a neighborhood-friendly program” that would include extra security and safety for residents. His main concern was for Perkins Elementary School, just two blocks from the shelter site. There was an agreement between the San Diego Police Department, Alpha Project which is running the site, and Hueso to meet to develop a security and safety plan.
McElroy said statistics show the neighborhood is “is actually better off” when a homeless shelter is placed there. He said crime based emergency calls and calls for services go down.
“Concerns that a homeless shelter blights a neighborhood are just unfounded,” McElroy said.
It will cost the city $20,000 in repairs to upgrade the property and make it livable, as it has been used for storage since it was vacated by the housing commission. In April, the county’s Monarch School for homeless children will begin construction at the site to create a larger school for its 150 students.
The Newton Street location, which has been vacant for three years, was selected after considering and rejecting a variety of other options, including Golden Hall across from the Council Chambers at 202 W. C Street, Municipal Gymnasium in Balboa Park, and the Balboa Naval Hospital parking lot, commonly referred to as Inspiration Point.
At its weekly meeting, the council listened to many comments from the homeless about why none of the sites being considered—Golden Hall, Muni Gym, or Inspiration Point—would work.
“Why is this taking so long to decide?” homeless advocate David Ross asked. “This should have been decided six months ago. This is a dark, dark serious situation that we have here today.”
Ross chastised the council for not making the city’s homeless emergency shelter site permanent.
“We need to be in a building, not in a tent,” he said.
Many concerns came from users of Golden Hall, including the San Diego Opera, which uses the hall for its rehearsals; Broadway San Diego, which brings national stage touring companies to the Civic Theatre; and the principal of a new, nearby public high school with 330 students.
All the businesses expressed a need to find shelter for the homeless, but not on their own turf.
Finally, District 6 Councilwoman Donna Frye put the issue to rest when she proposed using the 1625 Newton Street building for the shelter in 2011. The audience, many homeless, cheered.
“I’m grateful,” she said after the meeting. “Every now and then our prayers are answered.”
