The city’s new $6.5 million "bridge shelters" are providing a place to stay, but not accomplishing what they set out to do.
In the aftermath of the Hepatitis A outbreak last year, San Diego established three "bridge shelters," which originally were supposed to be a place for people who already had been given a housing subsidy but had not yet been matched with a permanent place to live.
But while hundreds of people have gone in, or gone in and come out and gone in again, only a fraction have been moved into homes or apartments.
"Critics," writes John Wilkins of the Union-Tribune, "say the poor performance is a reflection of a dysfunctional system that overemphasizes emergency shelters and hasn’t figured out how to align the community’s resources with the longer-term needs of the homeless."
San Diego has the fourth-largest homeless population in the nation, in part because it suffers from the same affordability crisis as other big cities in California (and elsewhere). Downtown San Diego doubled its number of housing units between 2010 and 2015, but saw rents double as well.
FULL STORY: City's shelters falling short of goals in finding permanent housing for the homeless
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Google Maps Introduces New Transit, EV Features
It will now be easier to find electric car charging stations and transit options.
Ohio Lawmakers Propose Incentivizing Housing Production
A proposed bill would take a carrot approach to stimulating housing production through a grant program that would reward cities that implement pro-housing policies.
Chicago Awarded $2M Reconnecting Communities Grant
Community advocates say the city’s plan may not do enough to reverse the negative impacts of a major expressway.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
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