SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — In Solana Beach Monday, the San Diego Rescue Mission will bring all 18 mayors of San Diego County together for a meeting to talk about potential solutions to the region’s homelessness crisis.
While homelessness exists in all 18 cities of San Diego, it looks different in each city, and every mayor is thinking about a solution that makes the most sense for their city’s needs.
However, that is where the San Diego Rescue Mission said it will challenge the mayors to start thinking about solutions on a regional scale.
This is the third year that the Rescue Mission is bringing all the cities together.
San Diego Rescue Mission President/CEO Donnie Dee said they want to build working relationships with all the mayors and to get them thinking about homelessness more as a humanitarian crisis.
Dee said some mayors have said homelessness is a housing issue, while other mayors said it's a drug and alcohol addiction issue, but the SDRM believes those are just factors that point to a more significant issue.
"Homelessness is primarily a heart issue, and it's only through rehabilitation, and long-term programs, can we address the difficult, complicated, dark, dysfunctional issues of the heart," Dee said.
Mayors are going to have the opportunity to share what their plan is for their city.
For example, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said homelessness is heavily impacting the poorest neighborhoods in his city, and that is why, in September, he plans to propose a ban on homeless encampments, following in the footsteps of what the City of San Diego did.
"We need to make sure we're protecting our most vulnerable communities, and when you're having children walking to school, looking at an encampment, seeing all the drugs being used, all the illegal activities, that's unacceptable," McCann said.
