Opinion: H Barracks the perfect site for a homeless shelter

Lydon is executive director of HomeAid San Diego and lives in Ocean Beach. Moser is executive director at Lucky Duck Foundation and lives in Clairemont Mesa.

H Barracks is a city-owned property in the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning area that can be used to quickly shelter well over 1,000 unsheltered individuals. This much-needed shelter is scheduled to be operational in late 2024 and could provide a mix of shelter options, including but not limited to multiple sprung structures, which are durable, easily constructed all-weather fabric buildings that have provided emergency and long-term relief to those in need of shelter for decades.

The site is located southwest of the San Diego Airport runway on the east side of the Naval Training Center Channel. It has been used by San Diego Fire-Rescue and Police Department for training exercises. The city’s planned long-term use for this site is for a water treatment facility, but that is several years away, making H Barracks a good temporary use.

Last month, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its Point In Time (PIT) Count showing homelessness in America has increased by 12 percent to about 650,000. The San Diego Regional Taskforce on Homeless PIT Count for 2023 counted 10,264, a 22 percent increase from 2022. Clearly homelessness remains a crisis requiring an urgent and practical response including the addition of shelter beds and a more appropriate level of public safety.

According to the city of San Diego, there were more than 64,000 entries into San Diego’s Get It Done app in 2023 related to issues of unhoused individuals throughout the city, including the Midway, Point Loma and Ocean Beach communities. Complaints are lodged by businesses and residents who are persistently and negatively impacted. H Barracks is a win-win solution for these communities and for the unhoused who would then have a place to go instead of the streets.

Although the city and our region have made strides in moving San Diego’s most vulnerable community members into shelters, we are still in a deep crisis which requires comprehensive strategy and funding, both of which H Barracks has. While the estimated startup budget is between $15 million to $20 million, this is significantly less than the cost of adding or acquiring permanent housing. For example, a $20 million investment could provide approximately 1,200 to 1,500 shelter beds, whereas a similar investment would yield only 40 to 50 permanent housing units. Given the magnitude of unsheltered homelessness, the ability to scale quickly and cost effectively is by far the wiser and more prudent use of resources.

According to the city, as with every homeless resource site in San Diego, services and security will be provided. Increased security both on-site and nearby patrols of surrounding areas are planned. Fencing for privacy and additional lighting and transit to and from the site to other services is part of the city’s strategy. Critical supportive on-site services, such as meals, restrooms and showers, mental health resources, substance abuse counseling, case management, housing navigation, health care assistance, veterinary care, IDs, and assistance with Social Security or disability benefit payments are also part of the plan. Additionally, this is being planned as a 24/7 shelter where people do not need to relocate during the day.

Projects like H Barracks are crucial in expanding the city’s shelter capacity, which then critically expands the city’s ability to enforce laws such as the Unsafe Camping Ordinance. And while removing the violent and criminal behavior that surrounds the unsheltered homeless population is a must, the overall mission of the shelter program for our unhoused population, including families, veterans, older people and youth, is to create a pathway to permanent housing.

Every community in our region needs to play a role during this time of crisis. And while a quick and common response is to say “we need to do something, but not in my neighborhood,” we are in a time of crisis, which requires that all participate and collaborate for the greater good. Moreover, shelters like what is being planned at the H Barracks site have proven to clean up neighborhoods and increase public health and public safety for a variety of reasons, while most importantly helping unsheltered San Diegans find a brighter pathway off the streets. Many neighbors of shelters purchased and constructed by the Lucky Duck Foundation who were once resistant have since become grateful after seeing how bridge shelters can significantly improve a neighborhood.

San Diegans can and should be an example of collectively addressing the issue of homelessness. Putting political party affiliation aside while supporting…