As the city struggles to find shelter space for its thousands of homeless residents, San Diego city leaders Friday put out a call asking for property owners to offer up locations as future shelter sites.
The call, officially known as a request for information, comes as several shelters are slated to close in coming months and Mayor Todd Gloria’s efforts to establish a proposed “mega shelter” remain under negotiation.
“We’ve doubled capacity at our sheltering options, but clearly more needs to be done so that San Diegans continue to see encampments being addressed and our unsheltered neighbors get connected to services that will help end their homelessness,” Gloria said.
“While ample affordable housing is the only true solution, we must address the current crisis on our streets as we build thousands of new supportive units.”
Within the past year, San Diego has expanded traditional shelter and Safe Sleeping site capacity by more than 930 beds. However, accoridng to January’s point-in-time count conducted by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, around 3,000 people in the city do not have shelter.