At the Spirit of the Barrio luncheon on September 18, Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD) hosted a panel of state and local leaders to address homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in San Diego, which is now considered the nation’s least affordable city.
This hot-button topic created a buzz of excitement even before the discussion began, with guests and panelists, including Speaker of the California State Assembly Toni Atkins, mingling with each other and, of course, enjoying the famous tamales.
The enthusiasm continued throughout the panel discussion, with the full-capacity crowd breaking into cheers after a panelist made a particularly powerful point. 10News anchor Kimberly Hunt moderated the discussion with hard-hitting questions such as how the city plans to achieve supporting housing and why political will is divided on the issue.
Speaker Atkins highlighted initiatives, such as recently passed affordable housing legislation, at the state level, while the other panelists brought knowledge from their leadership roles in local organizations.
Bob McElroy explained his perspective as CEO of Alpha Project, which provides work, recovery and support services to help individuals achieve self-sufficiency. “It’s far more costly for taxpayers to have people unhoused than housed,” McElroy pointed out.
Rick Gentry, CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission, focused on how his agency partners with city developers to build affordable housing units. Gentry cited the loss of 720 housing vouchers in 2014 due to changes in government funding. “We currently have 15,000 vouchers for housing, but there are 54,000 families in San Diego waiting for a home,” he said.
Deacon Jim Vargas, CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, reminded guests of the importance of health care in solving homelessness. His organization, which provides housing and meals to homeless individuals and families, refers clients in need of medical services to FHCSD. “It’s important to take health care funding and align it with housing need,” he said. “That’s key. Both are connected.”
FHCSD applauds the panelists for making an impact every day in the lives of San Diego’s homeless population, and also thanks the generosity of the Spirit of the Barrio guests, who responded to a special donation appeal to help fund FHCSD’s Healthcare for the Homeless program, which provides dental, mental, vision and primary care services at all FHCSD clinics. This program also offers support groups, substance abuse programs and insurance enrollment assistance.
If you would like to make a secure online donation to this important program, please visit our donation page.
To read a full account of this Spirit of the Barrio, visit FHCSD’s Twitter account, where staff live-tweeted the event using the #SOTBHomeless hashtag. You can also find pictures from the event on our Spirit of the Barrio webpage.
