By Fernando Garcia MPPA
Our city is a great place for families to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the many local food, beverage, and entertainment businesses. There are trails, beaches, parks, and other cultural and historic places to visit as well. In all, our city is a great place to live.
Due to our weather, the current pandemic and many other factors, our city has a fair share of problems too. First, the number of unsheltered people in our city tops 500. Same goes for Vista and Carlsbad. The homeless live with our public spaces with no where else to go. A Federal appeals court said it is unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping on the sidewalk when there aren’t enough shelter beds or housing available as an alternative. The ruling did not address the issue of how many beds are required or how to handle many unsheltered at a time.
So, the issue is enforcement in the most humane, socially responsible and caring way possible. I think that building homeless shelters is a temporary fix that does not address the long-term regional situation of the more than 1500 unsheltered in the tri-city area. The more beds, the more people will come creating an economic and social burden on the city beyond its capability to handle. Without an exit strategy, the issue will remain the same.
In order to solve this issue, we (the community, volunteer groups, County, and City Government) must understand the root or cause of the situation. In order to do this, we need people to make contact with each homeless person and evaluate the reasons for that person being homeless in the first place. i.e. (substance abuse, mental health, runaways, physical abuse at home, financial hardships, etc.) Yes, not everyone will want the help, and yes, we need to make contact with every single one. It will take time and a lot of work, but it’s a first step in the right direction.
The City of Oceanside already has an outreach team for the homeless. However, its manned with mostly police officers that cannot solve the immediate needs of the homeless individual. However, if we were to substitute those police officers with licensed social workers, mental health providers, and case managers, I believe we could help the unsheltered in a much better and permanent way. I believe that if we were to identify the cause of why a person is homeless, we can identify a solution to help that person exit the homeless cycle permanently. Finally, moving the outreach teams to the Fire Department would better serve the homeless and liberate those officers to take on law enforcement task elsewhere in the City.
By,
Fernando Garcia MPPA
