EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) — During COVID, the Rev. Rolland Slade had a dream.
The housing advocate and pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon wanted to build six mini cabins on church property to house homeless women.
Well, those tiny homes were built, providing a gateway to stable housing for women once on the streets.
"We have been able for the last 18 months to help 30 women move into permanent, supportive housing," Slade said. "We’ve only had three ladies who have not gone on to housing and went back to their cars. That was their choice.”
As the church's program — while small — has experienced success, San Diego County's Regional Homeless Assistance Housing Program has struggled.
Team 10 previously reported how the county spent more than $58 million during the past five years to put 2,400 homeless individuals into hotels around the county.
Yet, just 39% moved into permanent homes, which is the program's goal.
Some individuals in that program told Team 10 that they had spent more than a year waiting for a permanent place.
- RELATED: San Diego County spends $58.3M on homeless program with minimal success in finding permanent housing
Slade said the county's program has not been successful.
"It's been such a huge investment for what I would say is very little return," he said.
Slade, who also leads the East County Homeless Task Force, said nonprofit organizations could do a better job with the tens of millions of dollars that San Diego County has spent on the program.
A county spokesman said the program keeps 250 households off the streets every night and "sleeping in a hotel room each night is better for all."
Slade, meanwhile, said grants paid for the church cabins, which now cost about $8,500 each to construct.
That's just slightly more than what San Diego County spends to house two people for about $4,000 each per month in a hotel.
"For $4,000, you could rent literally an apartment in San Diego or in San Diego County for $2,000 a month," Slade said. "We need to figure out a way to use that money more effectively.”
The county uses Equus, an out-of-state contractor, to run the hotel-to-home program. The company declined numerous requests for comment.
County supervisors last month voted to conduct a financial audit of how Equus used tax dollars in running the emergency housing program for victims of the historic January floods.
Meanwhile, El Cajon Police Department records show there have been arrests for illegal drugs, guns and stolen cars by individuals in the Equus-run program.
“I know those hotels. I know the reputations of those hotels in this community, and they are not favorable," Slade said. "They have been run down and overused.”
City officials said there have been no calls for police service for any of the women living at the church.
At the church, women stay for up to three months and there are no obligations to attend services, according to Slade.
He added that the church works with case managers to get the women into permanent housing.
In addition, Slade said other churches should step up and put homeless cabins on their properties.
“Homelessness is a major problem in this county," he said. "If 1,000 churches did six cabins, that would be 6,000 more places for a person to lay their head.”
