Effective Resolution to Encampments

Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego invites you to join us for a webinar on Effective Resolution to Encampments.

Featuring guest speakers:

• Helene Schneider, Senior Regional Advisor, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
• Dijana Beck, Acting Director, Department of Homeless Solutions, County of San Diego
• Arlene Halama, former encampment resident

As homelessness continues to increase due to high housing costs in our region, many of our unsheltered neighbors are living in encampments. Local decision-makers are caught between demands for swift action and the reality that permanent, sustainable solutions—housing with voluntary supportive services—take time and investment to bring to scale. Some communities have turned to aggressive law enforcement approaches that criminalize homelessness and close encampments without offering shelter or housing options. While these efforts may have the short-term effect of clearing an encampment from public view, without connection to adequate shelter, housing, and supportive services, encampments will appear again in another neighborhood or even in the same place they had previously been.

Helene Schneider with USICH will present The 7 Principles for Addressing Encampments, developed by USICH in coordination with several national partners, to help communities more effectively address encampments.

Dijana Beck, Acting Director, Dept of Homeless Solutions, at the County of San Diego will present the county’s effective resolution of the encampment on Magnolia Avenue in El Cajon.

Arlene Halama, who was at one-time homeless living at the Magnolia Avenue encampment, will share her success story.

For more on this topic, read:

• “Responding to the Growing Crisis of Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments,” a blog by USICH Regional Coordinator Katy Miller
• “What Other Cities Can Learn From Boston’s Public Health Approach to Encampments,” a blog by HUD Senior Advisor of Housing and Services Richard Cho