Dear Editor,
Thank you for your recent coverage of the growing and complex problem of homelessness in Encinitas. As the local business owners expressed in the article, and as residents, we too are “frustrated by the worsening situation.”
As of late, we have seen people with their pants down peeing on the wall of a local coffee shop, others relieving themselves on the street, sleeping on the sidewalks and in doorways, masturbating in front of the local 7-11 downtown, and acting out at the beach parking lot and park benches.
As business owners have voiced in your article, we are terrified for ourselves and our children, as well as for the youth, not only of the growing public safety crisis but also of the city’s current policies that are harming our town, businesses, way of life, and public safety. Change is urgently needed.
The new City Council must enact new policies aimed at deterrence and protecting Encinitas from the failures of other cities’ visible policies. Past articles in The Coast News highlight: a homeless individual downtown assaulted the former mayor; a local coffee shop was owner was shot and injured during an altercation with a transient in the alley behind his downtown business; Swami’s benches were removed for cleaning due to homeless habitation, Coast Highway 101 benches were removed due to drug use and loitering, harassment of nearby business owners and customers continues… the list is seemingly never-ending.
Evidence in the numbers
The facts and evidence speak volumes about what is happening in Encinitas today and why logical, common-sense policy changes are warranted and urgently needed. These are numbers from last year obtained via public records requests:
- Sheriff calls for homeless incidents: 543 (2024)
- CRC initiated calls for service: 90 (YTD)
- Fire calls for homeless incidents: 107
- My Encinitas reports: 75 (through April 11, 2025)
Public Safety Expenses
- $44,000,000 in 2024 (City of Encinitas)
Housing First is a failure
The “policy” of “housing first,” which prioritizes housing before treatment is needed for the homeless, could not be further from the truth, speaking of “false narratives” and failed policies. The federal -and statewide- “housing first” model has done nothing to solve or aid the homeless situation, as we have seen in California, San Diego and Encinitas.
After California spent $22 billion in taxpayer dollars to “fix’”the problem, years later, the situation is only worse. “Low barrier” shelters have made no quantifiable impact, where the homeless are free to come and go as they please, do drugs, drink, and freely continue to devolve rather than improve.
Carrots without sticks solutions. As the CEO of Solutions for Change boldly states: “Real homeless solutions are needed beyond housing first” (Aug. 26, 2024), given that “Housing First also requires all programming to be voluntary or non-mandated.”
Free “homeless housing” is ineffective, without treatment preceding the housing, if at all.
Despite “Housing First” policies being a failure, local now state Sen. Catherine Blakespear is promoting her 2025 state-wide legislation, SB 16 and SB 606, that would force every city in California to provide homeless housing. This legislation, if passed, will rob cities of local control while bankrupting them, as it further enables the homeless to live in our downtowns. It must be stopped.
New policy urgently needed
Tackling the homeless crisis in our small town should be strategically managed and outsourced to existing, regional, or county-wide service providers, where food, treatment services, and beds are already available.
Having the city staff, along with the handful of Encinitas charities attempting to “solve” homelessness, is an impossible task. Dipping our feet into this intractable initiative and allowing local charities, including the CRC, to take it on without oversight and accountability has only made the situation worse.
The city is enabling the homeless to live on our streets by offering free daily meal services in our downtown area. Additionally, free food services that draw hundreds of cars to our downtown area (over 6,000 annually, according to the CRC website) should come to an end in 2025. These “compassion programs” have contributed to the growing and costly public health and safety problem locally, where handouts are prioritized over treatment and accountability. All carrots, no sticks.
The local Community Resource Center is clearly part of the local problem despite its award-winning fundraising efforts and “false narratives” about the “worsening situation” that it actually benefits from rather than resolves.
As the city is set to adopt a new Homeless Action Plan on May 14 (City Hall meeting at 6 p.m. on May 14), the CRC’s downtown operations must also be addressed. It would be a disaster for our city to approve the Community Resource Center’s proposed expansion in our downtown area, which the CRC is currently awaiting approval for, to “serve more clients” and expand its food service operations.
The CRC is part of the California “Homeless Industrial Complex” that, in fact, profits from the growing homeless crisis. There is no disputing this. It’s alarming that the Community Resource Center’s CEO would portray Encinitas residents as “haters” when they are only trying to protect their town, families, properties, investments and quality of life.
Who wants to have the homeless in Encinitas, and why would they?
Encinitas should no longer permit this regional nonprofit to operate any food service in our city. Encinitas does not need to be on a regional free food map (www.feedingSanDiego.org) when there are already over 15 free food distribution centers county-wide.
There are hundreds of places the homeless can get free food and services today outside of Encinitas, so why in Encinitas? Removing the daily free food and food pantry services from the CRC, along with regulating all homeless-serving charities in Encinitas, must be a first step in reducing homelessness locally, saving our town, protecting our economy and “protecting paradise” (Bruce Ehlers, State of the City).
The new council must adopt a brave and bold new policy to protect the people they serve in Encinitas, the businesses, residents and property owners. There is no time to sit around and analyze the data. The facts are crystal clear: based on recent sheriff and fire reports, the My Encinitas App, public records, and the city’s budget allocation for public safety and homelessness. Funds that could be spent elsewhere…
Not in Encinitas
While the Point in Time Count reveals an uptick in the number of homeless in Encinitas, as locals witness daily, it’s not simply a question of how many homeless there are in Encinitas (145 in 2024 were counted in the annual and recent Point in Time Count); the real question is, have residents, businesses, and constituents had enough with the current situation?
The answer is YES. And why would a small city like Encinitas follow the failed policies of other California cities, allowing our downtown and beautiful spaces to fall into ruin like those in other cities? “Enough is Enough”, agree!
Desire Smith and other concerned Encinitas residents.
1 comment
Saying “Encinitas should no longer permit this regional nonprofit to operate any food service in our city.” completely ignores the elderly who benefit from meals at the CRC, also the low income family, most of whom have school children. There are lots of families in our community that get meals from the CRC. Step out of your elitist bubble and recognize that there are people here who serve you every day that are low income. The CRC also helps domestic violence victims. This Op Ed is making a lot of assumptions about the CRC that are not true.