Some Del Cerro residents are advocating for both cleaner neighborhoods and support for unhoused individuals.

San Diego’s Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) reported a 10% increase in the number of unhoused individuals in San Diego from 2020 to 2022. And in neighborhoods like Del Cerro, this rising statistic has made an impact while the solutions are still in the works.

Within the past few weeks, Del Cerro residents Gene Erquiaga and Iris Fink noticed an encampment (pictured above) of unhoused individuals in the canyon behind their residential neighborhood. As neighbors who have lived in the College Area and Del Cerro for more than two decades (for Fink, three decades), they’ve routinely picked up trash to help keep the neighborhood clean. However, when they noticed the encampment, they became more concerned about the impact it was having on their neighborhood.

“It seems like the problem is getting worse and I really don’t know what the answer is,” said Erquiaga. “I think there’s got to be more involvement from the community regarding this issue. It just doesn’t seem like there’s a lot getting done.”

“There’s a lot of people that are pretty frustrated by the lack of clean-up and the homeless situation,” said Fink. “I know a lot of us get stressed out. I live in a beautiful area and I don’t want to see it like this.”

Brian Gruters, director of outreach at PATH — a housing support organization in San Diego — explained that connections among housing support organizations are improving but finding a resolution has been a more complicated process.

“On average it takes probably around 60 to 90 days to get people into a permanent home just because of the available resources,” said Gruters. “That’s moving as fast as we can. We put a high level of urgency on getting people inside, but you can only move as fast as housing is available.”

Fink and Erquiaga didn’t venture into the canyon to pick up more trash because the land that the encampment was located on is privately owned by a local church, All People’s Church. Kendall Laughlin, the executive pastor at All People’s Church, said the trash issues and encampment are something they are working to resolve.

“There is an encampment on our land. I know that that’s concerning to the community. That’s a concern to us too,” said Laughlin. “One of our big commitments, wherever we have a church location, is being a good neighbor to that community. We want to hear the concerns of Del Cerro residents. Actually, numerous ones have called me in the past couple of weeks about this. I’ve been in contact with residents trying to hear their concerns.”

Laughlin said the church has cleared brush, partnered with different service organizations and also partnered with the Adopt a Highway program to maintain a clean space on the highway.

But residents like Erquiaga and Fink are still concerned that not enough has been done.

“I was wondering why the church has signs posted that they’re cleaning the area or paid to have the area cleaned, but I wasn’t seeing any action for weeks,” said Erquiaga.

According to Laughlin, the church is continuing to clear and clean the land in the canyon, but the freeway area the church has sponsored is out of their hands.

“That land is actually owned by CalTrans. It’s not our land,” said Laughlin. “Some of the people who are unsheltered and some of their stuff is on the CalTrans parcel. We actually donate to Adopt a Highway but they clean up the property. We are not allowed on the property because I guess there have been safety issues in the past.”

Regarding the encampment, Laughlin said All People’s Church also filed a GetIt Done report but is still awaiting support to help the unhoused individuals. Laughlin said All People’s Church reached out to the San Diego Rescue Mission to see if they could get support in approaching the people on the land, helping them get services and then transitioning them off.

While organizations like San Diego Rescue Mission and PATH are working to get support services to unhoused individuals in Del Cerro and beyond, Gruters explained that there is still a long way to go.

“It isn’t like making a request to fix a pothole. It’s like making a request to fix a pothole when there’s no material to fix the pothole,” said Gruters. “You have to wait for those materials to become available.”

The lack of housing is a concern for organizations like PATH. And for encampments like the one located on the private land of All People’s Church, Gruters said a larger team effort is needed to help these people get resources because these encampments are often their last resort.

“They’re living there because they have to have a place to live,” said Gruters. “They can’t find another place to live, or rather, they can, but it doesn’t solve the problem.”

As housing support and resource organizations continue to improve outreach, Erquiaga and Laughlin both said a community effort is needed to create the changes they want to see in their neighborhood.

“I think there needs to be involvement from the city, the police, the community, and the church,” said Erquiaga. “I should be more informed, and I will get more informed. I know there are a lot of people working on this and I don’t want to sound like things aren’t getting done. I think there needs to be involvement from everyone.”

“My understanding is that this is a systemic need in our city,” said Laughlin. “I would love to see a response which is the city, non-profits, and faith-based communities partnering together in order to come up with creative solutions. That would be the ultimate dream.”

All People’s Church is still in the process of getting approval for construction, but, according to Laughlin, they do not plan to have a homeless ministry; rather, they intend to have partnerships with other outreach organizations.

PATH has a presence in the Del Cerro area and the greater San Diego area. Gruters said they have responded to referrals from other outreach teams, tips from 211, and GetIt Done.

To learn more about housing support services in the area or to get help, visit https://211sandiego.org/housing-information/ or https://epath.org/.

– Elaine Alfaro is a journalism student at Point Loma Nazarene University and a former intern for the La Mesa Courier.