SAN DIEGO — The pandemic has forced several businesses to shutter, either temporarily or permanently.
Some say that's created another issue altogether, an increase in homeless people loitering outside abandoned properties.
Cell phone video captured outside Pacific Beach Ale House shows what owner Eric Leitstein says he has been dealing with for months.
"We've gone down pretty much every day in Pacific Beach and had to ask people to leave our premises," he said.
Eric owns several businesses in the area, as well as downtown.
Since the pandemic began, and especially during the most recent stay at home order, he's noticed more and more homeless people either loitering or sleeping outside closed establishments, with no one there to stop them from doing so.
“I think they feel empowered to come out now. The streets are theirs where before you know businesses we had security, we had management, you know we could control our premises, but now that we're not there, there's no control," he said.
According to Eric, other business owners are having the same experience.
On the Next Door app, the owner of Su Casa in La Jolla said mattresses and trash were recently discovered inside, after an alleged break in.
Just feet away from the boardwalk, one man's encampment was set up in front of Waterbar.
"It is an issue. I mean, that's a fine example right there. This guy's got a tent, beachfront property, said Dave Robinson, a nearby resident.
These concerns are among the top complaints received by the Neighborhood Policing Division of the San Diego Police, which deals with quality of life issues, including homelessness.
“Our police officers are trained and equipped to deal with the situation if they happen to be homeless," said San Diego Police Captain Scott Wahl, who runs the Neighborhood Policing Division.
Captain Wahl said while his team hasn't noticed an increase in calls related to this particular issue regarding businesses, they are working to address it.
Their approach is to offer help before anything else.
"We do have a progressive enforcement model when it comes to quality of life offenses. It starts with a warning and education. We offer a chance to take them to an open shelter bed that is available here in the city and then each occurrence after that would escalate from an infraction citation to a misdemeanor citation, and then on a 4th offense it could lead to a custodial arrest," said Captain Wahl.
Captain Wahl said this model has contributed to a reduction in the number of homeless city-wide three years in a row.
During last year's annual count, there were 2,283 unsheltered homeless people in the city of San Diego, 12% less than the 2,600 counted the year before.
Still, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, San Diego has the 4th largest homeless population in the country.
When it comes to enforcement, Covid-19 has made it harder to put people in jail for certain crimes.
While loitering isn't usually an arrestable offense, those that used to be, such as trespassing or vandalism, aren't right now.
According to a San Diego Sheriff's Department spokesperson, "One of our mitigation strategies for our Detention Services Bureau has been to limit potential exposures and lower our inmate population to create as much social distancing as possible. During the pandemic, keeping public safety in mind, we have modified our booking criteria by suspending the acceptance of arrests related to some crimes. These are now being handled in the field by issuing a citation with a future court date."
Some maintain that policy is making the problem worse. The reality is, there is no quick or easy fix.
San Diego's new mayor Todd Gloria says combatting homelessness as a whole is among his top priorities.
“It's a daunting task for the mayor, the new administration. They're gonna have to address it. Every city is, but they're going to have to put their attention to this to help save the city and save the businesses," said Eric.
Police officials say if loitering is the issue, call the non-emergency line or report it on the Get It Done app. If there's something more serious going on, call 911.
Either way, they will do their best to address the problem.
