Officials in the South Bay, city staff and volunteer groups toured the Los Angeles Dream Center Wednesday in hopes of finding ways to curb the homeless population in the South Bay.
“National City, like many cities, is experiencing an increase in the homeless population,” said National City Councilwoman Mona Rios.
She said the purpose of the visit was to examine how outside cities and agencies handle an increasing homeless population and share ideas of how to provide better outreach and resources.
The Dream Center, a volunteer-driven organization founded in 1994, finds and fills the needs of over 80,000 individuals and families each month.
The Dream Center serves those in need through mobile hunger relief and medical programs, residential rehabilitation programs for adults, a shelter for victims of human trafficking and transitional housing for homeless families.
“The Dream Center is changing lives,” said National City Councilman Albert Mendivil.
Mendivil brought back more than just ideas from the trip, he said he actually envisions San Diego County having its own Dream Center.
“Personally, I would love to have a Dream Center in San Diego,” he said. “Not necessarily in National City but wherever. Wherever is best.”
Mendivil, who ran his campaign on helping the homeless, said he remains committed to his campaign promise.
“The way I see it, let’s not hide our head in the sand, there’s a (homeless) issue,” he said. “There’s a variety of ways that people are attacking it. And then some people just turn their head. Well I don’t want to turn a blind eye to this situation; I really want to help them as much as we can.”
National City has teamed up with South Bay Community Services as a resource for the homeless.
Rios said contributing factors to homelessness include Assembly Bill 109, the release of prisoners; changes in downtown San Diego that push homeless in different directions; and that people are still not able to recover from the economic downturn.
“We were told that the homeless population in National City had not increased,” she said. “But that’s not what I’m seeing. I’m seeing more homeless in National City than I have seen in past years.”
The homeless summary for 2015 in National City includes 153 total homeless with 137 unsheltered and 16 sheltered.
Jennifer Bustamante, an aide to Chula Vista Councilwoman Pamela Bensoussan, represented the city of Chula Vista on the trip.
“I’m glad Albert Mendivil is doing this,” she said. “He isn’t focusing just on National City, his efforts are the whole region.”
