LAKESIDELAKESIDE — East County’s main representative on the county Board of Supervisors defended a proposal this week to build a shelter in Lakeside, amid resistance from residents that could signal how other towns respond to the region’s growing homelessness crisis.
During a public meeting Thursday, Joel Anderson said dozens of small living quarters on an empty stretch of land could both assist those who needed help and give law enforcement legal cover to force homeless people off streets.
“Some of these people are living like dogs,” he said to a packed room at the Lakeside Rodeo Arena. “We wouldn’t allow an animal to live like that, we shouldn’t allow our brothers and sisters.”
More than 60 people were sleeping on Lakeside streets this year, though that may be an undercount, according to the most recent tally by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness.
Lakeside’s total more than doubled in the last two years, and East County overall saw a noted increase.
Yet the area only has beds for about 500 people, while at least three times that need housing.
Furthermore, there are no shelters anywhere in the unincorporated parts of the county, and a federal court has ruled that cities can’t prosecute people for sleeping outside if no beds are available.
Building a shelter would allow sheriff’s deputies to more aggressively clear public spaces, Anderson said.
While plans are not final, county officials want to lease about 5 acres east of the A-1 Self Storage on Riverford Road, between a creek and the San Vicente Freeway. The land is owned by the local water district, and a handout from Anderson’s office listed the address as 9897 Riverford Road.
Officials would build around 60 “sleeping cabins” that could house up to two people. The space would be surrounded by a fence and security would stand guard all hours of the day, according to Anderson’s office. Behavioral health services and housing help would be offered on-site, while alcohol and drugs would be banned.
Anderson emphasized that people would not be able to just walk inside. All participants would be brought in by county staff after they were screened, though he did not have details for what the screening process might include.
The former state legislator also pledged that the shelter would be for those in the immediate area, and not a spot for people sleeping in other cities.
Other towns will eventually need their own sites, he said.
While residents could ask questions about any topic during Thursday’s two-hour town hall, almost all focused on the proposed shelter.
The majority of the approximately 300 attendees appeared skeptical.
Lakeside is too small with too few resources to a shelter, said Brian Sims, a longtime resident. (Census data pegs the population at around 21,000.) Building any shelter risked drawing in more people, he and others said.
One woman raised concerns that potential crime could overwhelm the local sheriff’s station, while the property manager for the nearby storage center, Amirra Milner, said she worried about the effect on her business.
Exchanges were sometimes testy.
“Don’t call and complain that you have homeless and that you can’t go anywhere because the ‘homeless are scary,’ and then tell me, ‘we’re never going to have a shelter,” Anderson told one person. “I’m between a rock and a hard place.”
But the meeting avoided the abuse, shouting and overt racism that has plagued county supervisor meetings. Tension also appeared to drain from the room over time, especially as Anderson expressed openness to changing the plan if a better location could be found.
Some attendees were ive.
Scotty Barker said in an interview that drug addiction pushed him into a nearby river bed for more than three years. His time outside only ended when a homeless outreach team found him a hotel, and he now hopes to soon move into an apartment.
A shelter offered stability for people living unstable lives, he said. Getting help with housing allowed him to look for plumbing jobs.
“That’s what you want, right?” he said.
Joel Scalzitti, a local water official and owner of Mary’s Donuts in Lakeside, said he hoped a shelter might reduce the number of people hanging around the business district.
The proposed location was a “great spot” because the freeway partially blocked it from other areas of town, he said.
It’s unclear how quickly a shelter could be installed or how long it might last. Anderson said he believed it would stand about two years, while Milner, the property manager, said officials had told her five.
Either way, the supervisor said the shelter would be a placeholder for a more permanent location.
In a brief interview afterward, Anderson said he would schedule more community meetings.
Several East County cities have recently promised to find more shelter space, though local councils have not agreed to hard deadlines or pledged to spend a specific amount of money.
