SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The City of San Diego reached a new agreement with the state to continue clearing homeless encampments along freeways, expanding on a yearlong pilot program with Caltrans.
The original program allowed crews to clear encampments near highways along a five-mile stretch passing through downtown San Diego, Sherman Heights, and Barrio Logan. Under the new deal, the state will reimburse some of the costs.
The city says the agreement goes beyond removing tents. It will also include cleaning up trash, clearing overgrown vegetation, and removing graffiti, while connecting people living in encampments with shelter and housing resources.
Sandra Avans has been in and out of shelters and living on the streets since 2019. She is currently living near a freeway and says finding stable housing has been a long and frustrating process.
"Being homeless, I feel like it's a crime just to even be homeless; they make me feel like I shouldn't even exist," Avans said.
Avans said she would accept housing if it were offered to her, but the wait has been discouraging.
"Yes, I would definitely take housing. I don't mind going to housing. I don't even mind going through a program if I have to, to get it. It's just my thing, it takes so long cause I've been on the waiting list for so long for housing," Avans said.
Some advocates say the long-term solution requires more than relocating people from one area to another. Drew Moser, CEO of the Lucky Duck Foundation, said shelter capacity must grow, not shrink.
"We're seeing the city, I think, attempt to take efforts to add shelter capacity. However, they're reducing capacity in some shelters, one of which is owned by Lucky Duck. So we absolutely applaud them for adding shelter inventory elsewhere, but any thought or discussion or action that's taking beds offline is absolutely the wrong thing to do, especially at a time when 1 out of 10 requests for shelter actually go, go fulfilled," Moser said.
Avans says she hopes the city's efforts will lead to real opportunities for people who want to get off the streets.
"Yeah, there might be some that don't wanna go to shelters, don't wanna get into housing, but there's some that do," Avans said.
Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement, “Keeping our freeway corridors safe and clean while helping people move off the streets and into shelter is a top priority for my administration. I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for his support and to our partners at Caltrans for renewing this agreement so we can continue this important work together, build on the progress we’ve made, connect more people experiencing homelessness with shelter and services, and deliver safer, cleaner freeway corridors for everyone who lives, works, and travels through San Diego.”
The city says it will continue working with Caltrans to target encampments that pose public health and safety risks while maintaining outreach efforts for those who are unhoused.
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