REGION: Winter shelters extend services

Temporary housing seen as step toward long-term solution

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:49 PM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Winter homeless shelters will be open more days and offer additional services this year, organizers of the regional system said Thursday.

"This winter, we look forward to some refinements to our regional services to include more on-site medical assessments and treatments, better linkages with psychiatric services, literacy training, increased employment guidance and support services, and increased transportation assistance," said Melvin Takahara, system administrator for the Alliance for Regional Solutions.

Takahara and others involved with the alliance, a program that coordinates winter homeless services throughout North County, gathered at the San Marcos Civic Center on Thursday to announce the kickoff of the Regional Winter Transitional Shelter system.

The system will provide 239 beds and serve up to 700 people in shelters from Dec. 1 through March 31.

The four largest shelters will be open 120 days this winter, 20 days more than last year. North County Health Services also will visit the shelters more frequently this winter, Takahara said.

Also at the ceremony, United Way of San Diego President Doug Sawyer presented the alliance with a check for $70,000. Takahara said the winter shelter system's annual budget is $466,000, which includes in-kind donations.

Another $184,400 came from cities throughout North County.

Laurin Pause, executive director of the Community Resource Center in Encinitas, said at the ceremony that she remembered how all North County cities and several organizations last year created the alliance in about four months.

"I think that says a lot about us as a community," she said.

Sawyer said the United Way supports the shelter system as part of a long-term plan to solve homelessness in the region. The federal government four years ago offered money to cities and counties that had a 10-year plan, and the United Way stepped forward to create the plan for the city and county of San Diego, he said.

The goal is to create year-round housing shelters for about 1,400 chronically homeless people throughout the county. Sawyer said that would help break the cycle of homelessness. Sawyer said studies have shown that someone who is chronically homeless will not seek out help for individual problems, such as drug use, until they are settled in stable housing.

"Until we have a long-term solution to homelessness, the shelter system is crucial for the North County homeless problem," he said.

Sawyer said 24 percent of the people who stayed in the winter shelters last year were considered chronically homeless, and Takahara said about 70 percent of them were able to find more stable housing after their stay.

The four shelters that will be open Dec. 1 to March 31 are the 50-bed Bread of Life in Oceanside, the 50-bed Operation Hope in Vista, the 40-bed Salvation Army in Escondido and 75-bed Catholic Charities in Carlsbad.

The Community Resource Center in Encinitas and Interfaith Community Services in Escondido also operate a network of 12-bed shelters. Interfaith already has opened its winter homeless shelters.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.