Carlsbad accepted a $3 million state grant last week to help find shelter for homeless individuals and families living in their vehicles in the Village, Barrio and beach neighborhoods.
The City Council on Tuesday approved the grant on a 4-1 vote. Councilmember Melanie Burkholder, whose council district includes the areas targeted by the grant, voted no. She said the city spends too much taxpayer money on programs to help the homeless, and yet their numbers continue to increase.
“My whole problem with any of this is that we are not helping the people who need it most,” Burkholder said. “It’s just not happening.”
Vehicular homelessness has become a growing concern throughout San Diego County. The annual one-day, point-in-time count of the homeless showed the number of people living in vehicles in Carlsbad nearly doubled from 29 in 2023 to 56 in 2024, according to a city staff report.
Other council members agreed to accept the grant, but expressed concerns that the program would attract homeless people to Carlsbad from other cities without such support services.
Carlsbad Homeless Services Manager Chris Shilling said the city has identified specific people in the targeted areas who are eligible for the services, and that newcomers probably would not be eligible.
The money from the state’s Encampment Resolution Fund will be allocated over three years and covers partnerships with Interfaith Community Services and the Community Resource Center.
Also Tuesday, the City Council approved a “homeless action funding plan” for fiscal 2025-26. Burkholder cast the only vote against that, saying that some of the services provided by the city should come from the county instead.
Councilmember Kevin Shin said he understands Burkholder’s position, but there are benefits to the city’s programs.
“We are actually putting people into housing, while there is an increase in homelessness,” Shin said. “Each person has their own issues, and we have to tackle that.”
Some people refuse to accept help, he said, and more needs to be done to help them. Also, he asked for more information about how the city Fire Department interacts with the homeless.
Carlsbad will spend a total of $9,128,427, including $5,633,376 in grants, on homelessness programs during the fiscal 2025-26 budget year, according to a staff report presented to the council. That’s up from a total of $6 million in the current fiscal year.
Most of the increase is from additional grant money the city has been allocated, Shilling said. Money coming from the city’s general found will decrease by about $260,000 in the year ahead.
“New grant funding has allowed us to provide more services at less costs to the city,” Shilling said.
The money goes to a wide variety of programs and services, many of which are intended to prevent people from becoming homeless. Nearly half of the funds go to the Police Department’s homeless outreach team.
The region’s point-in-time count, done annually at the end of January, showed Carlsbad had 118 homeless in 2022, 103 in 2023, and 150 in 2024. Information from the count, while not always accurate, is one of many sources used to evaluate homeless issues and to allocate funding. This year’s count was held Thursday, with results being announced in the spring.
Carlsbad’s homeless programs served 601 individuals in the 2023-24 fiscal year, Shilling said. Workers cleaned up 40 encampments and helped 89 people find permanent housing.
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