ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — On Wednesday night, the Escondido City Council approved its new policy toward homelessness.
“I think the policy is short-sighted, limited and divisive,” Escondido resident Meg Decker said
Some in the community, including Greg Angela, the CEO of Interfaith Community Services, attended the meeting to voice their concerns to the council.
“It’s really concerning that a policy was passed without any input from the local people here in Escondido doing this work on a daily basis,” Anglea said.
Aside from moving away from the housing-first model, the approved policy adjusts Escondido no longer supporting programs that would enable drug use or allow people to keep living on the street, as mentioned in the policy.
That includes distributing resources and the hopes of city-run shelters requiring sobriety.
“If we’re going to invest a significant amount of our tax-payer dollars, I think it’s totally appropriate to require some level of accountability,” Escondido Mayor Dane White said.
This public safety-first model also adjusts the way the city handles homelessness by focusing efforts on cracking down on crime connected to the homeless in the community.
“I think it’s totally appropriate to enforce the law," White said. "And I think the important distinction, you know, like you heard from our police chief, we can’t tell somebody you can’t camp on the sidewalk. We’ve got to provide them a place to go. So, we’re looking for solutions, not criminalizing homelessness."
Mayor White said he feels Wednesday night’s discussion about the policy cleared up some confusion on what he calls the first step that’s been put in place.
But Anglea said that’s not the case, as he’s pushing for more resources in the community.
“What it feels like is that we haven’t made any progress towards creating places for the people who are on the streets tonight to go tomorrow,” Anglea said.
Mayor White told ABC 10News what’s to come is getting local service and health care providers to figure out the next steps forward for Escondido’s unhoused.
“We look forward to working in partnership with the city when they provide opportunity and return our phone calls and emails to do so. Because we really want to do it together,” Anglea said.
