A California mayor said 94% of homeless people refuse help because of addiction or mental illness issues.
Vista Mayor John Franklin said: interview An interview with KGTV-TV about the worsening homeless problem in California.
“For some of them, we’ve invited them 20 times and built relationships with them,” Franklin said, “and asked them if they would come here and accept a safe, warm bed, three hot meals a day, hot showers and clean clothes, and unfortunately, because of their mental illness and addiction, the answer is, ‘we don’t want to come.'”
“I know that’s true. I believe that’s true, but it’s shocking.”
A point-in-time homeless population census put the city’s homeless population at just about 170 people, nearly double the 88 people found last year.
Neighboring San Diego County communities saw similar increases, including 87% in Carlsbad, 69% in Encinitas, 32% in Escondido and 25% in Oceanside, according to the report. Three other cities reported slight declines in their homeless populations.
Hannah Gary, executive director of the nonprofit Retread Housing Services, told KG-TV that the report is consistent with her own experience.
“I know that’s true. I believe that’s true. But it’s shocking to me that so many people have become homeless in the last year,” she said.
Gary uses millions of dollars in state funds to run centers focused on helping homeless people in Encinitas and Vista. support It has 48 beds and provides services to help homeless people break addiction and find long-term housing.
“People will be surprised at how common it is to have homeless neighbors,” Gary added. “It’s not necessarily due to extraordinary circumstances that people become displaced.”
KGTV spoke with one of the homeless men living at the center, who said he lost his housing due to health issues.
“All I need is to get back to work and that’s it. All I need is to get 100 percent better from my health issues,” Gilbert Sanchez said.
Sanchez was working as a self-employed person but injured his back and needed surgery, after which he was unable to work and became homeless.
Franklin said, KGTV News Report On his YouTube channel he To tell The city has cleared hundreds of encampments and provided services to homeless people who want to take them in.
Vista is a city of about 99,000 people located about seven miles from the Pacific Ocean in northern San Diego County. The average single-family home for sale in Vista is about $886,000. according to To Zillow.
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