S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. Today we are talking about local solutions to keep people from experiencing homelessness. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Around one third of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego County are 55 and older , and that's according to last year's point in time count. And older adults experiencing homelessness have specific needs that require specific solutions. One age and ability forward solution is to keep people living in their homes in the first place. A commitment the Office of Homeless Solutions for the County of San Diego makes by providing some older residents with monthly rental subsidies. Here to talk about it is Deanna Beck. She's the director of the Office of Homeless Solutions for the County of San Diego. Deanna , welcome.
S2: Thank you. Glad to be here.
S1: So glad to have you here. Well , I want to talk about the people you're helping with this program. In what ways are older adults especially vulnerable to experiencing homelessness ? Absolutely.
S2: So we we picked this particular population because we see that that's currently the population on the rise experiencing homelessness. We we based that on our local data from the point in time count. It's a it's a population that generally is is not in a position to increase their income as they're getting older. There might be experiencing health issues or disability issues and a variety of factors. They may need higher level of care. And so we see them being priced out of housing. Um , and so their income , um , is not keeping up with the cost of , of local market. And so they are simply just cannot afford homes in many situations. And then any other contributing factors such as , as I mentioned , health or disability and that type of issues could , could create a crisis where they find themselves experiencing homelessness.
S1:
S2: So , um , our population is obviously older adults. Uh , there they have to be 55 years of age for the head of household , and they have to be spending more than 50% on their , uh , on their rent. Uh , they have to be. So they're considered rent burdened and at risk of experiencing homelessness. Um , and the program provides them that shallow subsidy assistance of $500 per month for 18 months. They receive case management as part of the program , so to look at other options as well as the step down from the program , and they additionally have to agree to be part of our evaluation , which is also part of the program , so that our um , Office of Evaluation and Analytics will later look at results and be able to give us data to tell us of the success of the program.
S1:
S2: So , uh , initially we were allocated amount for about 222 households , and then we were given another round of funding , uh , by our Board of Supervisors. So we were able to do a second round for 160 additional households. And so , so people were came into the program at different times and they will , of course exit at different times as well because of the 18 month limit. So their time started when they when they entered the program. So we're currently sort of in the middle of the program , the application we've we've enrolled everyone so that the application period had closed. And so we are currently administering and working with folks , and we will see the first exits out of the program , which is for our round one participants toward the end of this year. And then the program will end in 2026 for all participants.
S1: The shallow rental subsidy program is one example of a preventative measure to address homelessness in our region. Another example is expanding affordable housing.
S2: And first domain is prevention , which is the program we're talking about today , shallow subsidy. However , we know that in addressing homelessness , that's just a piece of the puzzle. So we need permanent housing , which is one of our framework's domains. So expanding that , and that's the focus of our county's housing and community development department is , is to to increase availability of those affordable units. And we have many thousands of them currently in the pipeline. And then in between programs that need to be in diversion. So when someone is is really in that imminent risk of homelessness on a cliff facing homelessness , there need to be diversion programs , services , treatment and outreach is another domain. So that is where people who may be experiencing , you know , behavioral health issues or a number of other issues that that can the need to get treatment to stabilize and get back into housing. And of course , then emergency housing , which is a way to stabilize someone coming off the street into a shelter or another , like safe parking or camping and then going before they can get into permanent housing. So there is all those interventions are on our county's strategy and our framework for ending homelessness. And so we have programs , over 100 programs in the county that administer services in one of those domains. And so that is , um , and it's all needed to , to be able to get ahead of this issue.
S1:
S2: Uh , you know , those stories are so important because they connect that. Really , the heart goes out to we had an 80 year old dad. Is that simply , um , was becoming , uh , was living with the family and that was no longer an option. And so they , uh , they were in a rental situation and just really , really struggling to make ends meet , pay the bills , pay the medications , pay the doctors , you know , just all of that , that , that those some of those extra costs buy groceries. So oftentimes they have to make a choice between buying , you know , medication or groceries and paying their rent. So this $500 a month really kind of goes , um , goes towards that alleviates some of that pressure. So that way they can live a better quality of life. Um , there's so many different stories. Each story is so unique , um , in this program. But at the same time , they all have that common need is that if if they didn't have some subsidy and if they did not have this assistance , they may very well be facing , um , having to live in their car or in the street. And so that is heartbreaking for this population. And uh , and it is , uh , it's something that we obviously strive to prevent. But it is it's very difficult. And , you know , we know that in current housing market , the rents are skyrocketing. There's a low vacancy rate. So , um , even people that that do have income are looking for places are it's difficult to find one of the lowest vacancy rates in the , in the region. And so it's just everything a lot of things that are stacked up against , um , folks that might have , you know , mobility issues or even , you know , they may not be able to drive a car anymore or , you know , there's just so many different , uh , different situations that we see , um , through some of these clients that could impact their ability to really live a be 100% and be able to take care of themselves.
S1:
S2: Um , I'm encouraged by the recent , um , numbers that Regional Task Force on Homelessness publishes. I will say that we based on those numbers , in the last three years , we have seen the number of newly homeless , um , you know , outpaced those that are housed. And so it's been a sort of a sobering reality for every about ten people that were housed by our system , maybe 13 to 16 , have become newly homeless. And so those have been the numbers over the last three years. And we've seen increases , obviously , each year at the at the point in time count. Um , and so again , with the senior population , you know , being one of the , the growing populations among that in the recent months , like in the fall to now , we're seeing that that gap closing a little bit. So it's it's even in one month we saw where the number of housed outpaced those that are um , becoming homeless. And so that is that for us it's encouraging. It's meaning that there's been a lot of different services that have been stood up over the last few years , including within the county , as well as as cities and other entities. And so we're seeing some of those effects take place and catch up. Um , we , uh , so we hope that we hope that our 2025 numbers will be , uh , better , at least that we won't see increases. So that's that's still to be determined. But I am cautiously optimistic and hoping for for better results this year.
S1: And can we talk a little bit about accessibility of the program , which I know can be sometimes be a challenge for people who may not be familiar with filling out online applications , who may not have access to the internet , and who may not have have the mobility to get to an office.
S2: You're absolutely right on that. And so we , uh , our process for enrollment was a lengthy one. And so this program was approved by the board , by our Board of Supervisors in 2022. But it took us a while to to get everyone enrolled because we wanted to allow plenty of time because of these exact challenges that you just described. We had assigned we had a contractor as well as a whole unit of folks , county staff , that really tried to make this as easy as possible. So so one of the things is we made the application super easy , like a one page and it could be written , it could be completed online. It could be , you know , some some of our staff went to the person's home and filled it out , you know , with them together , um , that type of stuff. So we try to make the process as easy as possible and kind of meet the person in the household where they're at , um , in , in , in many cases. So , so it was just a combination of things. So , so definitely challenging. Um , and then we try to , um , again make the documentation , the needed to be provided , supporting documentation , again , very streamlined and as easy as possible. So just very whatever basic things , for example , like income verification or just kind of a we accepted different things , you know , and just really tried to be creative. So we can still , you know , make sure that the person met criteria , but just make it as easy as possible for them and not have like a super bureaucratic formal process.
S1: All right.
S2: And so as I mentioned , there will be a formal evaluation done and that will give us later data on the outcomes and success. But even anecdotally now we we do see that that it is working. We don't have people in the program currently that have fallen into homelessness. There's been some exits into perhaps a person that had to move in with family and maybe no longer eligible because they're not in their own home anymore , or they went into assisted living or another subsidized housing , which is a great outcome , actually. If they can get into something that's more permanently subsidized so that we've had some of those exits. However , majority of the households , a great majority of the households is still in the program. And , um , you know , luckily has not , uh , exited into into homelessness. And then our team is working with them , as I mentioned on that , on those transitions , once they start happening now , I will say there's some glimmers of hope. Uh , and the state recently released a notice of funding for what they called a guaranteed income for seniors. And so it would be a very similar program to , to ours. And so it is open for application right now. Uh , it's competitive. It will only be awarded to one entity. It could be a government entity or a or a private entity to apply. So we are we're applying we're hoping to get it. If we don't get it , we hope another entity that gets it can use our best practices and our lessons learned. So either way , we're we're supporting this. And uh , some of the larger efforts on , um , on , on that and we have had other jurisdictions reached out to us frequently on this program , so we've had a lot of interest in it. It's an innovative program , so I think there's not a lot out there as far as evidence based on it. So I think a lot of folks are looking at this at this little program to to maybe be an example , you know , for future.
S1: Well , all of that sounds so very hopeful. I've been speaking with Deanna Beck. She's the director of the Office of Homeless Solutions for the County of San Diego. Deanna , thank you so much for being here.
S2: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: Up next , a local collaborative provides shared housing as a way for people to prevent experiencing homelessness.
S3: We should be doing better about tapping into the existing housing that we have , and figuring out how to maximize placements for folks.
S1: More when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. We continue our conversation about San Diego's unaffordable housing crisis. And in searching for solutions , we came across something called shared housing. That's when multiple people agree to live under the same roof like a roommate situation. But finding a place to stay and roommates that are a good fit can be a real challenge. That's where the San Diego Shared Housing Collaborative comes in. Joining me now is Melissa Peterman. She's the executive director of the affordable housing nonprofit townspeople , which runs the collaborative. Melissa , welcome to midday.
S3: Thank you so much.
S1:
S3: I think most of us live in shared housing because San Diego's so unaffordable. Um , it's hard to afford to pay housing expenses on your own. And so , especially for folks with limited incomes , um , it becomes really beneficial. And sometimes the only way that housing becomes accessible. Everyone gets their own room with their own lease. They share common spaces. So , yeah , probably not unlike many of the Sdsu students who are walking around.
S1:
S3: And so there are very few. And when I say most I mean like 80%. Um , so there's very limited options for studios and one bedrooms. And you're competing with folks who can pay market rate. Right. And then we've got our folks who are extremely low to moderate income even. And they , you know , on paper , when they're applying , they property owners have the ability to select someone who makes four times the rent or whatnot. And so it's really challenging to compete in that market. And also it's really challenging to even find the kind of housing that you want. And within the homeless assistance system , we have focused for so long on getting people into those studios and one bedrooms , that it is no wonder that people are , you know , we're seeing increased numbers of homelessness and we're seeing people stay homeless longer because there isn't that kind of housing there for them , and it takes so long to build. So we should be doing better about tapping into the existing housing that we have and figuring out how to maximize like placements for folks and and of course , keep it preferable for them. We we want folks to feel comfortable where they live and for it to be a choice. For a good choice for them. Yeah , yeah.
S1: Well , okay , so say I wanted to apply for housing through the San Diego Shared Housing Collaborative. I mean , what would that process actually look like ? Yeah.
S3: So we've got a no wrong door. Uh , like which maybe that's too broad , but , um , so let's say you were listening to us talk about it right now , and afterwards you were like , what would I do ? You could go to our website. Um , SD shared housing and submit an interest request , and one of someone from our team would reach out , ask you a few questions , make sure that you are really interested in shared housing. Uh , we there's a lot of stigma out there around it , so we want to make sure that folks really are comfortable , and then we'll provide them with the link to the portal. We've got an online matching system , kind of like a roommate. Com it's meant for for housemate seekers who are experiencing homelessness or imminently to experience homelessness. Um , so we there's some safeguards in there that we've created that just help folks feel like it's a safe space. And then we've got staff available to help sort of them to navigate the system. And we host in person meetups , um , so that if you found someone in the portal that you're like , yeah , our compatibility looks pretty good , I'd love to meet them in person. And we've got fun conversation cards that are all , like , built around , like co-living situations. And and once folks create a housemate group , then we help them to find housing in the private market.
S1: That's great. How does one qualify for it , though ? Yeah.
S3: Um , we we have pretty low eligibility criteria. We use that term quite loosely. You have to be experiencing one of the housemates at least has to be experiencing homelessness or imminently to experience homelessness. Um , you have to be interested in shared housing again. Like it feels weird to emphasize that , but we really want folks to know that it is their choice. Like no one's forcing them into any kind of housing situation. Um , and then you have to have some way of paying for your portion of housing expenses. As of right now , there's no we , the Shared Housing Collaborative. We don't have any subsidies to offer. We have some flexible funding so we can pay for security deposits , you know , utility assistance , but we don't have long term , um , rental assistance. We're working on that , and hopefully we'll be able to offer that to some folks. But yeah , whether they have earned income or Social Security benefits or some other kind of resource to pay for their housing costs , those are the the three main things.
S1: All right. So so it's not that anyone could make too much money to be in this program. Anyone who's interested could be in. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. I mean , so let's say we have someone experiencing homelessness who has a relative who's open to sharing. They're housed. Right. And that person has , you know , makes above Ami if they're open to sharing a home with their homeless relative , we will help them find housing , um , that meets both of their combined preferences. So , yeah , I mean , it's rare that we have a participant who is on the streets or is about to be homeless , who has a really high income. But it's not impossible. You know , like San Diego's a really expensive place to live , and you could seemingly make like a good living and still be living paycheck to paycheck. So yeah , it is really about your housing situation.
S1: I would imagine that there's some , you know , there's there's a benefit to having a community talk a bit about that.
S3: You are so right. I think a lot of times what of course , economics contributes to how folks become homeless , but it's also a loss of relationships. Um , and when you're living out on the streets , it can be really isolating. And then moving into a studio or one bedroom and you don't have anyone else around you. um , can feel like a continuation of the loneliness that you had just left. So when you move into shared housing and you've got , uh , you've got a housemate or housemates , we give all of the , um , housemate groups fun tools , like books on like games that you can play or ways that you can get to know each other and build that sense of camaraderie. And , you know , everyone's different. Sometimes folks are like , I don't want to be your friend , but I do appreciate that you're there. If I haven't come out of my room for a couple days that you're like , are you okay ? Right.
S1: Well , that that brings me to my next question. Because , you know , most of us know what it's like to live with a bad housemate , actually.
S3: And we because we have team members who are , you know , regularly checking in with housemates and , you know , getting a feel for how the placements going. We can act. We can intervene before anything like becomes blows up and we we relocate folks. So actually , one of our most recent success stories is a father and his young daughter. They had we started working with them. They moved into a shared housing , um , one shared housing situation and it just wasn't working out. So we were able to relocate them. We had another person who was looking for a housemate , and so they moved in together and they that was meant to be sort of temporary and that so that they could look for a new housemate. And so this father and daughter , the father found another single dad , um , up in Vista. And so now they , we just , um , they just moved into a two bedroom apartment and it's it's just really cool. So you've got two dads who , you know , having similar life experiences in relation to , like raising a child by themselves. And now they've got each other to support. But I think because we have a flexible pool of funding that we're able and we've , we're building networks , um , throughout the region. We can move folks if something's not working out. And it just so happen and that situation that we had homes available. But if there have been cases where we just we put someone in a motel for a couple nights so we could find them a housemate. So that's definitely part of how. But the goal is to not make anyone homeless again , right ? And that's part of why we really work hard to get individual leases for each housemate so that their tenancies aren't contingent on someone else. So if a house , their house mate moves out , but they. Their lease isn't over. They can stay. And then we work to help find a new housemate for them.
S1: And do you ? Is your organization covering that lost rent ? Yeah. In the meantime , yeah.
S3: That's part of what we we have a with the flex fund that we can do. And then we also work with other agencies who are providing similar services. So the San Diego Housing Commission has a great program called Leap. And so they you know , if our housemates are eligible for that resource , we'll tap into that first so that we can really reserve , um , our flex funds for the folks who don't qualify for any of the other existing support systems out there trying to get as creative as possible. Yeah.
S1: Well , something that hit me that you said earlier is that , you know , you had this this father with a child. And so given that there are children involved in this process , how well are housemates vetted ? Yeah.
S3: So that is the question of like every , every week for us. We weren't necessarily expecting so many families with children to be interested in shared housing. And that was uh , we should have just kind of given it , you know , the environment and what we see. So we've been talking with , um , providers who focus on support to families with children to try to map out a system that is more tailored to families. In the meantime , we don't want to turn anyone away. Um , if they are telling us , like , I think this can work for me , we're more involved a little bit more in coaching them through the housemate selection process.
S1:
S3: So the housemate selection is completely on the individuals. We are not. We provide a mechanism for them to identify folks whom they might be compatible with , but it's up to them to , to vet and and so we can we will through the flex fund if asked like we can pay to background check folks if that would be helpful. But we really encourage the housemates to have real conversations with one another , especially when there are kids involved prior to moving , and our check ins are a little bit more regular or more frequent when there are children. But we don't we ? We're trying to keep this system as low barrier to entry as as possible.
S1: Well , let me ask you this. I mean , is the long term goal to help people become self-sufficient and live independently ? Or is this collaborative way of living really the perfect situation for some people and a way of life that works for them.
S3: Yeah , I love that question. Um , and I hate the answer I'm going to give you because it's a little bit of both. Um , you know , I think there are some folks who totally see this as a as a way to get back on their feet , save money , increase their income , and then find a , a studio or a one bedroom where they can live by themselves. And then there are some folks where like , this is really going to be this is the life that they the house life they want. They want to be surrounded by people. And it might not be this person forever , but they're really like they like being around others. So we're we're still so new into the , the collaborative that we , we don't have any sort of like solid scientific , uh , like data that we can pull from that would say like what most people are doing , but we are soon to at least have one year's worth of data that we can , um , begin to analyze more deeply. But the goal is definitely to have continue this for as long as people are experiencing homelessness and rents are unaffordable. Sure.
S1: Sure. I mean , like the I guess , you know , the housing problem is a really big one. Homelessness is a really big issue. How do you think that your program meets the need for for housing in San Diego ? You have some people who aren't bringing in an income at all. Uh , and then you have some people who are working three jobs and yet still can't afford a home. Yeah.
S3: And so however , we can fill those gaps. And I think because townspeople were a small All organization. We can be more nimble than a lot than some of the bigger agencies are able to do. And so we can fill in those little the niches and um , and the and the gaps. So something like shared housing is perfectly aligned with what we are all about. And we can be really adaptive to changes in demographics , to changes in circumstance. Um , and I think that is really important , as you said , you know , we're we're looking at this two pronged crisis of affordable housing and homelessness. Um , you need all hands on deck. Even the little guys like us.
S1: All right , well , I've been speaking with Melissa Peterman. She's the executive director of the affordable housing nonprofit townspeople , which runs the San Diego Shared Housing Collaborative. Melissa , thank you so much for joining us.
S3: Thank you for having me. It was so great.
