San Diego County leaders are exploring what land could quickly host temporary homeless shelters amid a regional shortage of beds and ongoing discussions about cracking down on encampments.
The Board of Supervisors moved unanimously Tuesday to assess whether a range of sites could host small cabins, large tents or safe parking lots, among other options.
Some of the locations are in the city of San Diego and Escondido.
“We still have hundreds and hundreds of people unhoused on our streets every single night who need and deserve a place to sleep,” Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, the measure’s sponsor, said from the dais.
Staffers must report back in about four months. The bipartisan vote set aside around $90,000 of federal relief funds for the work, and Lawson-Remer highlighted the existing Rosecrans Shelter, a 150-bed emergency tent shelter in Point Loma , as a model to follow.
Leaders also continue to explore a countywide camping ban .
An initial list of possible shelter sites drew some pushback Tuesday. Several residents of Escondido, including the city’s mayor, said they hadn’t been consulted about one spot at 620 E. Valley Parkway.