Slow to Help Homeless

It’s been a long time since there was any secret about the problem of the homeless in San Diego. Downtown redevelopment exacerbated it by eliminating some of the old hotels, and also highlighted it by making people take notice of parts of town previously given over to those lacking shelter.

Many people and agencies have done much good work to help the homeless. Just this year the San Diego Rescue Mission, now known as Life Ministries, moved from Fifth Avenue to its new $2.6-million facility on J Street. And philanthropist Joan B. Kroc contributed $3 million to St. Vincent de Paul’s $8.6- million center to be opened in 1987.

One disappointment that was recently brought to light, however, is county government’s laxity in starting state-funded programs to aid the mentally ill homeless. One program approved by the state Legislature in 1985 authorized payments to board-and-care homes for housing people who are mentally ill but not sick enough to be hospitalized. The purpose of the money is to encourage board-and-care homes to take in these difficult people, many of whom would otherwise wind up living in the streets.

In January, $513,000 was made available to San Diego County for payments to the homes, and another $1 million became available in August. So far, none has been spent.

An interesting parallel is drawn by looking at how the County of San Francisco handled the same program. San Francisco began in 1985 certifying eligible board-and-care homes for the new payments. By the time the money became available in January of 1986, the program was in place. San Francisco not only spent its original share of the state funds in 1986, but sought and received a second allocation.

On the other hand, it took San Diego County until June to certify the homes and review the records of clients eligible for the funding. Even today only a few of the 60 board-and-care homes have signed contracts with the county because of questions over liability insurance.

The county also received another $1.28 million from the state in January for another program to help the mentally ill homeless. The cornerstone of this effort is to be a 14-bed, $640,000 crisis center where people could stay for a maximum of 30 days. Those people then would be allowed to live in a 40-bed apartment complex for up to six months while they look for work and attempt to stabilize their lives. This program also has not opened and won’t until at least February.

One likely reason for the delays in getting these programs started is that the county’s Department of Health Services has not had a director since former director James Forde was demoted more than a year ago. Dr. J. William Cox moves in as director next month. It is to be hoped that among his top priorities--and also among those of Chief Administrative Office Norman Hickey--is to fully exploit the available resources to help people who are not only mentally ill but also homeless.