Why this matters
The city of San Diego has turned to Veterans Village of San Diego to provide needed shelter beds for the homeless. VVSD recently had its substance abuse treatment license revoked by the state, but officials say that will not be an issue with the new deal.
Veterans Village of San Diego, which lost its state license to house and treat substance abusers in September, will soon provide housing for homeless people and veterans under a new contract with the city of San Diego.
Under the terms of the deal, approved by the San Diego Housing Commission on Friday, the city will pay VVSD $602,202 from Dec. 1 through June 30 for 40 beds to be reserved for veterans.
The agreement includes four one-year renewal options at a little more than $1 million per year.
In addition, the city will pay VVSD $125,273 per month under a Memorandum of Understanding and licensing agreement for space at the Pacific Highway campus to be used by Father Joe’s Villages, which will oversee a second program of 130 beds for single adults and seniors older than 55.
At the same time, the commission approved a second deal with the San Diego Rescue Mission for 37 beds at the organization’s South County Lighthouse, a homeless shelter on Euclid Avenue in National City.
That deal will cost $544,668 for the seven months beginning Dec. 1 and ending June 30. It also has four one-year renewal provisions at a cost of $933,717 each year.
The option years are contingent on funds being available from the city general fund in those future years.
The two deals were initially announced by Mayor Todd Gloria on Oct. 28. They are part of the city’s effort to backfill the loss of 600 beds from the closure of two large shelters operated by Father Joe’s Villages that will shutter at the end of the year.
Many of the shelter residents at one of those facilities at Golden Hall will move into beds at Veterans Village, said Rachel Laing, a spokesperson for the mayor.
Gloria’s announcement came a week before the Nov. 5 election, when Gloria was running for a second term in a campaign focused largely on the homeless crisis. It also came on the heels of the September decision by the state Department of Health Care Services to revoke the substance abuse disorder treatment license for the facility.
At the time, the state cited “serious concerns about client safety” at the Pacific Highway campus including seven deaths and numerous violations of state regulations. The state had put the license on probation in March 2023 in a settlement agreement that resolved investigations into complaints and several deaths, including some from accidental overdoses.
inewsource reported on those deaths and other issues at the facility problems had been reported on in a series of stories by inewsource in 2022. Executives with VVSD said the reporting was biased, sensationalized, and inaccurate, and ignored the work the group does helping thousands of veterans and non-veterans through its various programs. However, VVSD leaders have failed to show evidence that any of the reporting is inaccurate. inewsource has stood behind its reporting, and no corrections or retractions have been made.
Two more deaths in September 2023 and in March led the state to pull the license. That also ended a contract with San Diego County which paid VVSD $6 million a year to treat adults with substance abuse disorders through the Drug Medi-Cal program.
The new deals with the city were approved unanimously, though Commissioner Antoine “Tony” Jackson said he was saddened to see VVSD – which has been nationally recognized for its programs helping vets since its founding more than 40 years ago – struggling now.
“I have a lot of history with VVSD,” he said. “I’m all for this, using the facility for that, but to see that it’s become a homeless shelter is sad, from my standpoint, seeing what the program was before. I’m all for helping, bringing other people in with the vacant space. But just to see that VVSD is turned into this is not a pretty picture.”
Lisa Jones, the executive director of the commission, said that VVSD is still offering numerous services to veterans at the campus, and the homeless beds will use only a portion of the site which she said can accommodate up to 364 people.
She also said the injection of funds will help VVSD financially after the license suspension.
“Unfortunately, VVSD had lost some significant funding,” she said. “They needed some stabilization, we needed the beds. It was sort of an opportunity marriage, let’s say.”
It is unclear when exactly the city approached VVSD about providing shelter beds. Laing said the city began talks with Veterans Village after the facility received its notice of license revocation and temporary suspension on Sept. 6.
Scott Marshall, a Housing Commission spokesperson, said that the commission began discussions “about potential opportunities for utilizing unprogrammed/unoccupied beds on their campus before the change in VVSD’s status with the state occurred.”
Both Laing and Marshall said that the license revocation at VVSD was not an impediment to making the new deals.
Marshall said that VVSD has long operated programs for veterans successfully under funding from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and other sources. The Housing Commission will administer the agreements with both Father Joe’s and VVSD, and will have both a senior official and a compliance team overseeing the site.
Laing said that the agreement with VVSD is not for treating substance abuse, for which it lost its license.
“The City/SDHC portion of the campus will be operated as emergency shelter beds, not substance disorder treatment beds,” she wrote in an email response to inewsource questions. “This is an entirely different program.”
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
