LEMON GROVE, Calif. (KGTV) — In Lemon Grove, plans to build tiny homes for the unhoused are moving forward despite the state's decision to withdraw funding. A meeting on the issue was held at 6 p.m. Thursday, and the majority of attendees voiced their concerns about the project.
As ABC 10news anchor Wale Aliyu explains, hundreds of people without homes live in the small East County city, and volunteers are working to help them out.
Erika is a woman experiencing homelessness in the area. For the last six year, she's been living in nagging conditions.
"Stress didn't help... They will come and clear everything out, and tell us to leave," she says.
Recently, Erika has been sleeping just below Highway 94.
"It hurts. That's the part where you have to keep going forward... You can't just sit and cry every day," she says.
Teresa Rosiak-Proffit is the founder of the Lemon Grove Homeless Outreach group.
"I'm sorry... I'm very choked up about this because I see the need," she says.
Turning tears into tenacity, this team of outreach volunteers has helped about 80 people over the last year gain access to some kind of facility,
But each week, they say they still run into more than 300 people living on the street. The county's recent point in time count says 111 people were unsheltered in Lemon Grove.
The group is also doing its part by matching those who are working, yet still homeless, with people renting rooms.
"We can get those people off the streets and into a better place before they become chronic, if it's done right," says Shane O'Garro, executive pastor for the Church of Salvation.
The next question: Is there a right way to build 70 tiny homes for some of these residents without too much community pushback?
"I totally understand. I look at downtown and see a lot of things, see shelters downtown," says O'Garro. "Yes, Lemon Grove is small, but imagine if it started looking downtown again... These things have to be done right."
Rosiak-Proffit supports the tiny home plan.
"Yes, in my backyard, absolutely. Just driving around in your car is not sufficient. You have to get out there," she says. "Possibly climb a little small hill to go over an encampment, and we will teach you how to not be afraid of the homeless. They are people just like you and I."
Erika echoed Rosiak-Proffit's sentiment, and she hopes she can secure a spot in one of the tiny homes if the plan moves forward.
"We shouldn't be looked at any differently, like we're cavemen. What? We're not allowed to be in a home?" she says."My hope: Either to remain in that or to upgrade from that... And be able to give that tiny home to somebody else that has been where I was in Lemon Grove. That would be nice."
