New Program Clears Minor Infractions For Homeless Who Stay At Bridge Shelter For 30 Days

Speaker 1: 00:00 Police departments across the country had been criticized for criminalizing homelessness. A new program though operated by the San Diego police department and alpha project is trying to change that. The program gives those who are homeless who face arrest or a ticket for minor quality of life issues. The option of going to the alpha projects shelter in East village, if they stay for 30 days, their infraction is cleared. Joining us to talk about this program is Bob McElroy president and CEO of alpha project who is joining us from the bridge shelter. Welcome Bob. Speaker 2: 00:32 Good afternoon. Thanks for having us. Speaker 1: 00:34 Can you tell me more about the circumstances in which people are offered, uh, to participate in this program? Speaker 2: 00:39 Well, they've been out there for a long time and they have a bunch of tickets. These are folks that, uh, the police department, uh, as they go through the neighborhoods, you know, doing enforcement from some community compliance, offer folks an opportunity to go into a facility, whether it be us or st Vincent's or somewhere around the town. But in this particular situation, we, as we opened this new shelter back in November, we designated 50 beds to the hot team, the homeless outreach team, and the police department for folks out there who are looking to, you know, start the road to recovery. Speaker 1: 01:13 Well, I was going to ask, I mean, what type of infractions are, are people facing here? Speaker 2: 01:17 Well, you know, the typical ones that are out here, you know, trolley tickets and encroach man, he'll look a lodge and public urination, uh, Jay walking, you know, ones that are associated with, with our folks that are out here. You know, I was thinking, as I said, I was a little skeptical at first because we're talking about a lot of folks that are, are generational urban campers that have always been resistant to, uh, facilities and services. And, um, I've been pleasantly surprised lately. Speaker 1: 01:45 And you know, you mentioned you were skeptical at first. What were your reservations about the program initially? Speaker 2: 01:50 Well, because I know a whole bunch of people out here, you know, for 35 years, and a lot of folks are just, you know, we love each other. But, uh, I just don't want to come in today. And a lot of people are still active and trapped in their addiction. You know, a lot of people have severe mental health issues and you know, we've got waiting lists at every facility that we have. And I didn't want to waste a spot on somebody who was just, it was just another part of the hustle. And what I've seen here lately are people are actually staying the 30 days plus they don't want to leave in 30 days. We've developed a relationship with people. We've found two folks permanent supportive housing. Um, we have people that are in drug and alcohol treatment. We have people that are going out and cleaning up the neighborhoods as part of our wheels, a change program. I'm a cynical old guy, but I'm seeing some people that I never thought, you know, would take on a challenge and succeed. I'm seeing them doing it. I seem to succeed. Speaker 1: 02:39 Mm. So, so people come into this program, they stay for 30 days. What services are they being offered while in the shelter and are there any bridge services afterwards? Speaker 2: 02:50 Every service that, you know, that was one of the stipulations that we made going in is that both these fees for folks, we're not going to be treated any differently than anybody else. A as a, as a member of alpha project facilities. And so they have access to every housing navigators, case managers, drug and alcohol treatment, job opportunities, uh, mental health services, physical health services, and we have our medical clinics onsite. So everything that we provide is available to everybody. Speaker 1: 03:16 And you mentioned that 50 beds at the new shelter are reserved for people who want to participate in this program. Have they been filled on a regular basis? All right. And have there been any other unique challenges with this population? Uh, are there, is there a need for more resources even? Speaker 2: 03:32 Well, there's certainly a need for more, but you know, we still have that 10 to 15% of population that are so severely mentally ill that they can't be in any facility. And there's nothing for those folks. And we're talking hundreds and if not thousand plus in San Diego, if you take 15 to 20% of the population, and I, you know, I always say nobody ever signed up for that. It's being trapped in mental illness. And you know, the only institutions we have today to treat those folks are jails and prisons. And that's not bad. So Nathan Fletcher's started the conversation about building a facility in town here for the severely mentally ill. I'm 1000% behind that. And you know, those, those folks, you know, take up 80% of the resources because the, you know, certainly like police time, paramedic time, their primary care physician is the emergency room simply because they have severe mental health issues. And that's, that's just not right. Speaker 1: 04:27 And I, I understand there were a few kinks with the program, um, that have since been ironed out. Can you tell me about that? Speaker 2: 04:33 A logistical type of things, you know, um, you know, with time folks come in, um, you know, we have a curfew and whites out of 11 and, you know, so we, you know, stuff like that. And then how many bags of stuff people have. We do have fire Marshall issues, um, you know, and coordination, you know, getting the word out nine to our staff on hand to how to triage assessment, assess intake folks, but also the police department on the protocols, you know, that we need to have to check somebody in. So those things have all been ironed out and it's, it, it gets better every day. Speaker 1: 05:06 And I want to switch gears a bit and discuss the security officer who was killed outside of the new shelter. Two suspects have since been arrested in his murder, has alpha project since made any changes to security since that shooting? Speaker 2: 05:19 We, we have, first of all are, you know, we're just so thankful and grateful for the Sandy police department for finding these two individuals arresting two individuals because the family doesn't need any more issues on their plate than they already have. And so we're grateful for that. As I said, maybe hopefully prayerfully that the family can have some modicum of peace and closure. Certainly our staff and our residents feel a little more secure. But yes, we have changed some things around. The police department's been outstanding about being on site every day just to enhance police presence that we have in all of our facilities, and we're going to have discussion down the road on what we do, where we go from here. Speaker 1: 05:57 I've been speaking with Bob McElroy, president and CEO of alpha project. Bob, thank you very much for joining us. Speaker 2: 06:04 Thanks for having us.