SAN DIEGO — The encampments that lined the fence in San Diego along the I-15 corridor near the Central Avenue Mini Park were cleared out mid-July. This comes after City Heights residents reached out to city and district officials for months asking for something to be done.
CBS 8 spoke with concerned residents back in April frustrated with the camps being just 30 feet away from playgrounds. They reached out to multiple officials and got no answers.
"I would like to see elected officials respond to citizens complaints and citizens alerts that something is going on," City Heights resident Larry Halford said.
The City of San Diego was awarded about $3.1 million to address the homelessness along the I-15 corridor. Homeless outreach began at the end of April at the Mini Park and Park De La Cruz as part of phase one. Phase two is doing outreach at Teralta Park, it's expected to be complete by the fall. Phase three is Ward Canyon, which they aim to complete by early next year.
"This was four outreach specialists and street medicine team engaging individuals having conversations and really understanding like what's going on, and how can we help, and how can we address this for you and identify housing stabilization plans? That's what the team did," Ketra Carter with homeless strategies and solutions for the City of San Diego said.
The city said 18 people from the encampments entered shelter options, three were reunited with family and five moved into permanent housing, with eight more on the way. Homeless outreach teams helped people leave the encampments, but no one was forced to leave and law enforcement was not involved.
Resident Larry Halford is glad to see progress made after he tried to reach officials for months. He's skeptical about what will happen in the future because of the lack of communication between residents and officials. He never heard back from the city or district about his messages and concerns, even when they began the homeless outreach.
"It's great its done now," Halford said. "We have no confidence its not going to repeat in some different form or fashion later on."
The city said within the next month or so, Unsafe Camping Ordinance signage will go up at the Central Avenue Mini Park and Park De La Cruz. That means camping will be prohibited and can be enforced by San Diego Police.
Now that there's additional funds from the state grant, the city said the area will be monitored by homeless outreach teams to address encampments before it gets out of hand.
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