Momentum is shifting in discussions about local homelessness, as we’ve been finding in our quest series. I appeared on a homelessness-focused episode of NBC7 San Diego’s “Politically Speaking” on Sunday, along with Mathew Packard from the San Diego Housing Commission and Bob McElroy of the Alpha Project, a homeless services agency that runs the downtown winter tent shelter. I’ve embedded four clips from the show below.
Packard talked about approaches to solving homelessness that involve targeting frequent users of public services, housing them and providing pro-active services:
I talked about why we’re trying to figure out the size of the pie for homelessness funding:
There’s a wide range of people who are homeless, and many reasons people might become homeless. I talked about Liz Hirsch, whose emails we’ve been sharing about her experiences being newly homeless. She began sleeping at the Rescue Mission after her unemployment payments ran out:
McElroy and Packard talked about the imminent opening of Connections Housing, the city’s permanent homeless center. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a guide to that center and included some questions about why it’s not a panacea for homelessness. Packard mentioned a couple of those questions in this clip:
I’m Kelly Bennett, reporter for Voice of San Diego. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.
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