In 2010, nonprofit leaders launched a program to house the most expensive homeless San Diegans. These were individuals constantly racking up ER hospital visits, ambulance trips, hospital stays and calls to police.
Project 25 set out to identify the 25 most vulnerable and frequent users of public services, house them and manage their situations. It wasn’t easy, but it proved to be a success.
Two years into the program, Project 25 participants had taken fewer ambulance rides and spent fewer days in the hospital compared with the year before. Hospitals saved more than $2 million. And not a single Project 25 client returned to the street. Everyone who entered the program remained housed.
Still, the program ended. Contributor Kelly Davis explains why in a new story.
Read about the death of Project 25 here.
Davis’ story is part of Voice of San Diego’s Whatever Happened To … series. These topics were once front page news, but have since slipped out of the spotlight. Read more stories in our series here.
Charging a Fee for Trash Pickup Is a Battlefield
As Election Day nears, Tommy Hough, candidate for San Diego’s open District 6 City Council seat, has fully embraced his position against Measure B.
Politics nerds Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts kinda saw this coming when they wrote about Hough’s position on the measure in last month’s Politics Report.
Measure B: This would let the City Council study and then impose a special fee for trash service to all city residents, reversing a century-old law that entitles most single-family home residents to trash collection without paying a direct fee, while most apartment and condo dwellers have to pay private trash haulers for the same service.
But now Lewis and Keatts report that Hough’s position against Measure B has angered former allies who see the measure as both essential to the city’s climate efforts and a social equity policy.
Read the latest Politics Report here. The newsletter is exclusively available to VOSD members.
More Politics: Lewis and Keatts went over Politifest highlights on the VOSD Podcast. Catch up here.
In Other News
- The Union-Tribune profiled a church in the Mountain View neighborhood that opened a resource center in response to gun violence. Bridge Church’s on-site community center offers free resources, including a food bank, marriage counseling and programs for children.
- An audit is questioning SANDAG’s contract spending, inewsource reports.
- Take a look at some of the amazing scenes of Saturday’s Padres game. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafana.