The news has been quite bleak.
Interfaith Community Services, a major homelessness aid provider in North County, worried that it might be kicked out of Escondido. One news release fretted that “eliminating or even reducing the critical services Interfaith provides will increase homelessness.”
City leaders felt the nonprofit was crying wolf while being a bad neighbor. “They absolutely are a drain on that area,” Mayor Dane White said in March, characterizing the relationship as “beyond repair.”
However, both White and Interfaith’s CEO say months’ worth of meetings between them and their staffers have dramatically improved relations, and now the nonprofit is in talks to expand resources for those struggling with addiction. A proposal to increase the number of available detox beds from 10 to 32 is expected to be considered early next year.
“We both want the same things,” the mayor, who has publicly shared his own history of homelessness, said in an interview. “We just have different means of getting there sometimes.”
The nonprofit is also renegotiating the permit that allows it to help homeless residents at its downtown Escondido headquarters. The City Council may consider as soon as January several new rules for the facility, including only serving meals to people enrolled in Interfaith programs, according to the mayor. Food can currently be offered to anyone who drops by.
White said he hoped other nonprofits and churches would in turn step up to ensure nobody goes hungry.
Greg Anglea, the nonprofit’s CEO, added that staffers were exploring ways to prioritize shelter for homeless residents found by law enforcement officers. Police previously raised concerns about a lack of open beds and leaders complained about people loitering near Interfaith’s headquarters. (Escondido Police Department officials did not comment.)
Homelessness countywide has grown every month for more than two-and-a-half years, and Interfaith is aware of 110 families in and around Escondido who may soon need shelter. Many if not most of those parents are living out of vehicles while working at least one job, Anglea said. “The through line in all this is a lack of affordable housing.”
The nonprofit opened a shelter just for families a little more than a year ago. During a recent tour, Christmas decorations greeted visitors at the entrance. A toddler gate guarded the top of a staircase. In the kitchen, a boy opened a small carton of milk.
The shelter has already served 31 households. Of those, four families have so far found stable housing and another four moved to temporary lodgings, according to a spokesperson. A few additional children also landed permanent places to live with other caretakers, yet their parents either returned to the street or moved to a motel.
Nineteen people were staying at the facility in late November, including more than a dozen kids. That left beds available, although Interfaith tries to add only one family a week to give everyone time to adjust to new faces.
Escondido’s mayor hopes to open another shelter in the city by the end of next year. White has said a cannabis tax could help fund a facility, but the city would first have to legalize dispensaries.
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