Assemblymember Brian Maienschein secured $750,000 of the state’s budget to expand the San Diego Housing Commission's Multidisciplinary Outreach Program.
Why it matters
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria says there are currently more than 50 outreach workers who go out into the community to help unsheltered residents.
“Housing ends homelessness," Gloria said. "But getting folks into housing is not possible without talented outreach workers who go out and actually make contact with individuals and help get them into care, help to address their underlying causes of their homelessness and get them housed permanently.”
Closer look
Erica Meador, associate director for outreach services at PATH, said “We meet them where they’re at. So what they feel they need at the time is what we aim to connect them to.”
Meador describes how this funding will be used.
“It will allow us to add more staff members to our team that we currently have and we’ll be able to connect our population and the clients that we serve to services like behavioral health, housing, medical needs, direct care, substance abuse services,” Meador said.
Looking ahead
Maienschein says this funding will produce results and valuable data.
“We got this number of homeless people off the streets. We got this number of homeless people into housing. We got this number of homeless people into services and when you can show those results, I think it helps make a more effective argument to get more funding,” Maienschein said.
The secured funds support the Community Action Plan on Homelessness for the City of San Diego.
