ESCONDIDO (KGTV) — The Escondido City Council is expected to vote in the next 30 days on whether general fund dollars will be used to lease 18 vacant beds at the Interfaith Turk Center.
Right now, the center is for unhoused people who need medical respite care. The 18 extra beds would be used for the homeless in Escondido, no matter what their condition.
For Escondido Mayor Dane White, the issue is personal. About 15 years ago, White was living on the streets in the city and transitioned out of homelessness after receiving help.
"I had an experience on a New Year's Eve where I had overdosed and I thought I was going to die," White said.
"And within two weeks after that, I had found the North County Inland Regional Recovery Center, which is now a 7-Eleven, unfortunately, but uh, checked into there, and for me, it worked," White said.
Interfaith CEO Greg Anglea says he hopes the proposal goes through.
"And we wanna get it done as quickly as possible because um we have uh people out on the streets right now who would like to get off the streets, have a want a place to go, we have a place for them to go and with the city's support we can make that a reality," Anglea said.
White wants to use his position to help people who struggled like he did.
"I think that this coming proposal is going to be another enormous step in the right direction," White said.
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