Time is ticking. City leaders find short-term solutions to losing over 600 homeless beds

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — About 600 shelter beds in San Diego will no longer be available at the end of the year, and city leaders are looking for other temporary solutions.

The shelters closing include the 264 beds at Golden Hall. The 60-year-old facility was always planned to be a temporary shelter as it is in need of repair and its permit is expiring.

Near the East Village, Father Joe’s Paul Mirabile Center is closing its 350 beds to transform into a detox center, and Rachel’s Promise is closing its 40-bed women’s shelter due to repairs.

The city currently has 2,508 shelter beds including the safe sleeping tents, but could decrease to less than 2,000 in the coming months.

This comes as the homeless crisis continues to grow, with the latest 2024 point-in-time count data showing more than 6,000 homeless recorded in the City of San Diego.

“I’m really looking forward to getting out of there, it’s not the best place,” Anthony Ramirez said, he is one of the 264 residents at Golden Hall. “It’s a place better than living on the streets, I’m not cut out for the streets.”

On Tuesday, the council heard the short-term action plan brought forward, while Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said he is for the temporary proposals brought forward.

“A lot of this is a Band-Aid, my goal is not simply to move folks off the streets and into shelter, all of our goal should be to have folks move into permanent housing,” Elo-Rivera said. “I don’t think any San Diegan should aspire for San Diego to have the most people living in shelter of any city in the country.”

The short-term solutions include adding additional safe parking, sleeping and camping sites, hotel options and expanding diversion and financial assistance.

The current capacity at the 20 ^th and B safe sleeping site has 136 spaces. They are anticipating to expand it by 50 additional spaces. The O Lot can currently fit up to 408 spaces, and the expansion of 182 spots will bring the total there up to 590 spaces.

Both expansions are anticipated to happen this fall.

The city said they are in discussion with hotel owners to lease room blocks, and other partners to lease room blocks and could have up to 416 spots by the winter.

The temporary solutions come as Mayor Todd Gloria has been pushing for a longer-term solution by leasing the facility at Kettner and Vine and turn a 65,000 square foot former warehouse into a 1,000 bed homeless shelter with on-site services. That initial proposal was not approved by city council in July and has been met with criticism.

Some of the short-term solutions can go into affect right away, while others will need approval. City leaders are hoping to bring them forward for approval in the coming weeks.

Here’s a look at the short-term plan brought to council Tuesday: https://sandiego.hylandcloud.com/211agendaonlinecouncil/Documents/DownloadFile/Item%20S502%20Short%20Term%20Plan%20REVISED.pptx.pdf?documentType=1&meetingId=6196&itemId=238089&publishId=899477&isSection=False&isAttachment=True

Current Shelter Capacity :

Data above from The Point-In-Time Count, as reported by The City Council’s Staff Report in August.

The shelters in bold above will be closing at the end of the 2024 or beginning of 2025. This will bring 654 beds offline, or unavailable, to house the homeless population.

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